The First World War ravaged the male body on an unprecedented scale, yet fostered moments of physical intimacy and tenderness among the soldiers in the trenches. Touch, the most elusive and private of the senses, became central to war experience. War writing is haunted by experiences of physical contact: from the muddy realities of the front to the emotional intensity of trench life, to the traumatic obsession with the wounded body in nurses' memoirs. Through extensive archival and historical research, analysing previously unknown letters and diaries alongside literary writings by figures such as Owen and Brittain, Santanu Das recovers the sensuous world of the First World War trenches and hospitals. This original and evocative study alters our understanding of the period as well as of the body at war, and illuminates the perilous intimacy between sense experience, emotion and language as we try to make meaning in times of crisis.

Santanu Das uncovers the intimate history of how war was experienced by the body.

About the Author
Santanu Das is a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow at Queen Mary, University of London.

Reviews
Review of the hardback: '... delicately nuanced, intricately subtle ...' The Times Literary Supplement
Review of the hardback: 'Santanu Das has written an original, closely argued and highly detailed account of the way in which touch - the physical interaction with one's surroundings and one's fellow soldiers - defined the experience of the war and the ways in which it was recorded. ... it is packed with original research and is uncommonly well written.' Daily Telegraph
Review of the hardback: 'Touch and Intimacy melds a wide range of sources into a brilliantly convincing whole. Methodologically, it makes use of a sophisticated and erudite mix of theory ...' CLIO
'There are some beautiful and revealing passages of writing here ...' The Ivor Gurney Society Journal



Book Information
ISBN 9780521066877
Author Santanu Das
Format Paperback
Page Count 284
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Weight(grams) 420g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 16mm