The Abjecting First World War And The Abjected And Reconstructed Masculinity In Birdsong

Set against the background of the First World War,Birdsong(1993)by Sebastian Faulks mainly recounts war experiences of soldiers and retracing of the war by Elizabeth(the main character Stephen’s granddaughter)sixty years after the war.From perspectives of abject theory and masculinity,this thesis aims to analyze soldiers’ suffering in body and spirit resulting from the cruel war,thereby probing into deconstruction of cognition and masculinity by the abjecting First World War and reconstruction of masculinity based on abjection and body.Appalling cruelties and unbearable obscenities on the battlefield smash the grandeur and masculinity in conventional war literature into pieces.War is no longer God that guarantees glory or idealism,but turns out to be a false and indifferent Other.Trapped by war,soldiers are no longer courageous enough to commit themselves to fighting and defending their countries,as depicted in conventional war literature,but become coward and desirous only of survival in the face of the relentless war.Nonetheless,the abjecting war does more than destructing masculinity.While deconstructing grand narratives and conventional masculinity,it shapes and reconstructs new cognition of soldiers.On the one hand,cruelty and brutality of the war generates in soldiers a sense of abjection and meaninglessness.On the other,individual suffering inflicted by war enables them to rediscover self and the world around them.Research methods of the thesis mainly consist of document analysis and text perusal.After studying Birdsong under the guidance of abject theory and masculinity theory,the thesis finds that traditional literature on war pays excessive attention to the“metaphysical” aspects of war and endows it with supreme importance while avoids describing its “physical” aspects and dismisses soldiers’ war experiences.Abjection(in war)means return to the body,which forces men to abandon “the metaphysical”and pick up “the physical.” By focusing on soldiers’ agony in body and spirit resulting from the confrontation between courage and abjection,this thesis aims to explore the impact of the First World War on man’s masculinity and recognition of their life,thus revealing significance of body and experiences in reconstruction of self-recognition and masculinity.