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Laughter in the Trenches
Humour and Front Experience in German First World War Narratives
Jakub Kazecki(Author)
Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Published on 23. July 2012
Book
Hardback
205 pages
978-1-4438-3899-3 (ISBN)
Description
Laughter in the Trenches: Humour and Front Experience in German First World War Narratives explores the appearances and functions of humour and laughter in selected novels and short stories, based on autobiographical experiences, written by authors during the war and in the Weimar Era (1919-1933).This study focuses on popular and lesser-known works of German literature that played an important role in the socio-political life of the Weimar Republic: Storm of Steel by Ernst Juenger (1920), Advance from Mons 1914 by Walter Bloem (1916), The Case of Sergeant Grischa by Arnold Zweig (1927), and All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque (1929). The author shows that these works often share surprisingly similar narrative strategies in describing humorous experiences and soldier laughter to justify direct violence and oppressive power structures, regardless of the works' ideological assignment and their popular and critical reception.This book also examines the parodic imitations of All Quiet on the Western Front, the German text All Quiet on the Trojan Front by Emil Marius Requark (1930) and the American film So Quiet on the Canine Front by Zion Myers and Jules White (1931) as significant polemical contributions that use humoristic strategies to stress or undermine elements of the original text.
More details
Edition
Unabridged edition
Language
English
Place of publication
Newcastle upon Tyne
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Edition type
Unabridged edition
Product notice
With dust jacket
Dimensions
Height: 212 mm
Width: 148 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-4438-3899-3 (9781443838993)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Other editions
Additional editions

Jakub Kazecki
Laughter in the Trenches
Humour and Front Experience in German First World War Narratives
E-Book
04/2012
1st Edition
Cambridge Scholars Publishing
€106.79
Available for download
Person
Jakub Kazecki is Assistant Professor of German at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine. His research focuses on 20th-century German literature, images of German-Polish relationships in literature, film and visual arts, and laughter and comedy in different media.