Short-term memories: the First World War in British short stories, 1914-39

This article looks at British short stories of and about the First World War, written and published between 1914 and 1939. Drawing on a corpus of over 400 stories, the authors discuss the short story's merit as a contribution to the cultural history of the Great War. Short stories document the war and its perception in small fragments, addressing everyday concerns, interests and anxieties of those who experienced the conflict at first hand, whether as civilians on the home front or combatants in one of the many theatres of war: land, air and sea, France, Belgium or the Middle East. While memoirs and novels established themselves as the main genres for the depiction of the war's long-term effects, and poetry as the major medium of its commemoration, the short story offers a glimpse into the immediate experience of the war, a snapshot of the moment.