The conference aims to explore whether contemporary literature can effectively establish adequate representational spaces for approaching and reconsidering these past wars, focussing on the issue of “authenticity” in the use of historical sources and the need to access and interpret the past from contemporary settings. Additionally, we aim to shed light on the ethical dimensions of war writing and on the possibilities of closure, resolution or consolation in contemporary British and American literature, and to assess whether literature can be of use in the politics of peace-making and conflict resolution, contributing to the formation of fairer, more egalitarian societies.
