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Memorials for the living : a cross-cultural analysis of mythology & representations of the Battle of the Atlantic 1939-1945

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thesis
posted on 2023-05-27, 06:56 authored by Campbell, I
This thesis examines representations resulting from the Battle of the Atlantic. Representations of the Second World War have changed little since 1950; there has been even less in portrayals of the Atlantic Campaign. Participant's experiences were distilled into myths: the essence of the events and emotions. Portrayals were written mainly by participants. They embodied what those participants wanted to recall and communicate, and continuity dominated movement in both representation and interpretation. The readily available primary sources tell us little about postwar perceptions of the Atlantic. Secondary sources have been used for the first time to define, describe and illustrate military and civilian mythologies of the Atlantic Battle from many countries, principally Britain, Germany, Canada and the United States of America. How and why participants and others created sense and relationships with their experiences through myth is explained. The limited penetration of popular culture by these portrayals explain their position among other recollections of modern wars. The sources of these mythologies in maritime culture and their origin during the Great War are shown. Their change and development through Second World War activities and national needs are traced. Without those national needs, postwar limitations upon authors and audiences, as well as the effects of the concentration of public memory upon other things, led to relative ignorance and isolation. The portrayals still embodied participants' requirements. After the Second World War types of representation and commemoration were defined and established. New sources and new interest in the subject after 1974 are demonstrated. These diverted interest and activity. Recent anniversaries and writing reveal the broad range of types of representation among several media, increasing academic depth and sophistication, and the healthy prospects for further elaboration and exploration. Change has been brought by the desire of new, younger non-participants to rework and reinterpret old events and myths in order to achieve greater understanding, and promote more awareness and commemoration of relatively neglected people and their times.

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Copyright 2000 the author - The University is continuing to endeavour to trace the copyright owner(s) and in the meantime this item has been reproduced here in good faith. We would be pleased to hear from the copyright owner(s). Thesis (MA)--University of Tasmania, 2000. Includes bibliographical references

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