FROM TRENCHES TO MORAL ABYSS: WAR, TRAUMA, AND THE CRISIS OF MODERN CONSCIOUSNESS IN TWENTIETH-CENTURY ENGLISH LITERATURE
Samapti Banerjee
University of Burdwan, Department of English, Burdwan, West Bengal
Abstract
Literature is the mirror of the society. It records several things as its exclusive themes and background. The World Wars occupy a concrete position in the pages of several literary texts. There are numerous texts in English Literature that deal with the subject of Wars. Both the World Wars have completely devastated and transformed the world and the lives of its poor victims. Not only the common people but also the soldiers are mercilessly tormented in the warfare. The concept of War is not at all heroic rather it is horrific. Human existence and peace are ruthlessly snatched by the devastation and destruction of the violent wars. War can never bring any productive outcome in the world. It can only bring sorrow, desolation, hopelessness and pessimism. In reality War is only the victory over the dead. It is the man made devastation and destruction which can bring only voids emptiness, violence, trauma and faithlessness. The World War I is a frightening experience for the world. It leaves its horrific consequences even after the cease of this gigantic War. Just after the World War I human existence becomes aimless, meaningless, and empty and there is faithlessness in the human hearts. People are dubious to connect with each other. They cannot communicate among themselves properly. There is no concrete relationship. Every relation is superficial. People are engaged in multiple relations without any genuine passion. They are trying their utmost to hide their loneliness and isolation. There is no target, ambition or magnificence in human lives. They are leading and living mechanical life style to spend the days only. These alienated, agitated people are entirely directionless and are completely lost in the after war chaotic world. These people are famously termed as the Lost Generation by Gertrude Stein. Earnest Hemingway first used the term in his debut novel The Sun Also Rises (1926). World War II also causes such devastating and destructive impact on the modern civilization. The aftermath of this War is also very pathetic. It not only causes massive slaughter and genocide but also pushes the human civilization in utter darkness. The people after this terrible warfare feel alienated, fragmented; they have no individual identity and individual firmness of voice. After this massive war people share a collective self and lack of an individual identity. These people are engaged in monotonous, repetitive and circular action which is never ending process without any genuine progress. They may have no purpose in their lives but they carry on working and are habituated in this monotonous toil. Absurdism is a unique genre of English Literature and the Theatre which portray the absurd and awkward existences and activities of the modern generation people in the devastated and decayed world after the horrific World War II. Albert Camus’ The Myth of Sisyphus (1942) and Romanian-French dramatist Eugene Ionesco Rhineceros (1959) are some of the elementary absurdist literary works which project the existential crisis and the emptiness of alienated people who are living in the collective identity just as the rhinoceros and carrying on the persistent toil like Sisyphus and experiencing a defiant happiness like him in this repetitive and endless loop.
Keywords: Destruction, Trench, Repetitive, Slaughter, Devastation, Alienated, Lost, Purposeless, Meaningless, Aimless, Trauma, Repression, Trench-Poets, Frontline, Shell Shock, Heroic, Terrific, Depression, Anti-War, Faithlessness, Void
Journal Name :
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EPRA International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research (IJMR)
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Published on : 2026-04-03
| Vol | : | 12 |
| Issue | : | 3 |
| Month | : | March |
| Year | : | 2026 |