p. 22 | War’s Influence on Literature

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Dec 3, 1914

War’s Influence on Literature

The Springfield Republican predicts the immediate changes in the character of our reading matter:

“A world event of such transcendent importance will not only create a demand for a special literature, if a literature devoted to so enormous a subject can be called special, but it is likely, also, to have a marked effect upon literary taste. Some subjects which have grown to immense dimensions in a time of prolonged peace will be obscured by the clash of arms. For example, the literature of feminism, too swollen and too widely theoretical to be entirely wholesome, is likely to have a check; woman's world in general will shrink temporarily while battles rage. There will be less attention for the exploitation of vice or the discussion of sex, or for most kinds of problem literature, and perhaps some surcease of miscellaneous agitation will do no harm. But writers who can tell a stupefied world what this fearful portent means, who can throw light on the great fundamental problems of the race, and give some hint as to its destiny, will have an attentive and even anxious hearing. War books, of course, will be in demand.”