War, peace and remembrance have inspired, and still inspire, artists and writers. I have personal experience of many people who served in WW2 and when I think of these meetings now, the words "national purpose" and "community" and "common goals" still ring in my head. It seems that the war bound the community together, provided a sense of belonging and common goals. Furthermore, individuals may be inspired by war to behave in ways that might be unthinkable in times of peace.
Some people might argue that, in the absence of war, remembrance can also be adopted to foster togetherness and positive thinking in times of national need, like Brexit, for example. I can just imagine the novels being written now. Let's have a quick look at such a book. Let's give it a title: A Family at War. Such a novel might feature fathers and sons at loggerheads over the EU and Britain's place in a new world order. Perhaps these divisions are simply covers for deeper problems concerning parents and children! The possibilities are endless.
2018 marks the centenary of the end of WW1 when, according to Siegfried Sassoon:
Everyone's voice was suddenly lifted;
And beauty came like the setting sun:
My heart was shaken with tears; and horror
Drifted away ... O, but Everyone
Was a bird; and the song was wordless; the singing will never be done.
In order to celebrate this moment of singing 100 years later, large numbers of transparent military figures, each representing a name on a memorial, will be placed around the country in the places that missed them the most. The picture on the left shows such a figure in a church in Kent. The commemorative project is called: There But Not There.
Many books have been written by survivors of WW1, for example: Goodbye to All That by Robert Graves, Memoirs of an Infantry Officer by Siegfried Sassoon, Old Soldiers never die by Frank Richards, Undertones of War by Edmund Blunden, Im Westen Nichts Neues by Erich Maria Remarque and Le Feu by Henri Barbusse.
As important as these books are, the transparent figures being placed around the country this year are creative, powerful and a more immediate way of reminding us of the importance of remembrance. This remembrance is particularly important for those who have lost loved ones and family members in war. No, we must never forget. But we must also never forget the civilian casualties, the wounded and those driven mad by wartime experiences. Nor should we forget the atrocities carried out on all sides. And what about the conscientious objectors - where do they fit into the national consciousness?
I am not saying that remembrance is a bad thing. On the contrary, it is vitally important that we remember, and the transparent figures that we will see around the UK in 2018 are a wonderfully creative and moving way of doing this. But I can already hear the conversations and arguments going on in our novel, Family at War. What is the purpose of Remembrance? Should it not be more than honouring the fallen and comforting those who mourn their loss? Surely, if Remembrance does not serve as a warning that war is futile, then it is pointless, isn't it?
"How dare you say such a thing. Your grandfather died so that you are free...free to choose Brexit...and to remind the world that we were once great." And so the arguments rage on...
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