Death of the Hero? Heroism in British Fiction of the First World War

Although the First World War is commonly associated with a profound sense of disillusionment, it continued a development begun in Victorian times in redefining the meaning of heroism in everyday terms of stoicism and endurance as well as feats of daring. In line with the broader emphasis of this volume on ongoing processes of heroisation and de-heroisation, Einhaus explores the shift towards a modified, more broadly defined understanding of heroism, and traces ways in which British literature of the period reflected and shaped a new understanding of the heroic whilst engaging critically with existing definitions of heroism. To this end, the chapter provides a case study of Richard Aldington’s novel Death of a Hero (1929) alongside a small number of popular texts, including Richard Marsh’s Sam Briggs, V.C. (1916).