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Ordinary Yet Emblematic: The Transnational Correspondence Between an American GI and His Sweetheart during the Korean War
- Source :
- Bruns, E 2019, ' Ordinary Yet Emblematic : The Transnational Correspondence Between an American GI and His Sweetheart during the Korean War ', The European Journal of Life Writing, vol. 8, pp. 91-121 . https://doi.org/10.21827/ejlw.8.35836, European Journal of Life Writing, Vol 8, Pp 91-121 (2019)
- Publication Year :
- 2019
- Publisher :
- University of Groningen Press, 2019.
-
Abstract
- Operating on the core premise of microhistory, that the lives of ordinary people are endowed with explanatory power for a specific period or event in history, this article analyses the war-time letters from the 1950s written by an American serviceman and his girlfriend, later wife, during the Korean War. The author addresses methodological concerns regarding implications that the unique characteristics of personal letters have on the utilization of them as primary source material in historical and biographical writing, in addition to reflections on the author’s close familial relationship to the historical subjects and how this impacts the overall objectivity of the article. An analysis of the letters demonstrates how the couple developed various techniques to mitigate the effects of distance and how they coped with the pervasive sense of uncertainty and fear that consumed Cold War America. This study broadly contributes to the existing life writing literature by demonstrating how a life writing approach, when applied to a particular moment in history, can be utilized in historical study to tell a previously untold part of that particular moment.
- Subjects :
- letters
History
media_common.quotation_subject
lcsh:Literature (General)
05 social sciences
Microhistory
Media studies
transnational
050109 social psychology
lcsh:CT21-9999
lcsh:PN1-6790
Event (philosophy)
Life writing
050903 gender studies
lcsh:Biography
Premise
Wife
0501 psychology and cognitive sciences
0509 other social sciences
microhistory
Explanatory power
Objectivity (science)
marriage
Period (music)
media_common
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 2211243X
- Volume :
- 8
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- European Journal of Life Writing
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....560336929c15dd6dbce510acced47285
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.21827/ejlw.8.35836