On Your Death Would Be Mine

This is a fascinating work rooted in letters by a veteran of the First World War and his wife, who was a peasant in Dordogne. There are a few important arguments here, but I’m going to focus on two:

First, historians have traditionally argued that civilians and soldiers inhabited two entirely different spheres during the First World War, with no connection in spite of letters sent. This is because soldiers often did not write about the gravity of the war, so as not to give family and friends reason to be anxious. Martha Hanna argues that this was not necessarily the case. Paul Pireaud, for example, was careful in what he said to his parents, but was willing to tell his wife, Marie, about his trials and tribulations. In doing so, his writing reflected the educational reforms instituted by Jules Perry, in which instructors taught students to be entirely sincere while letter writing. Indeed, Hanna argues that it makes more sense to view the two “spheres” almost like a Venn Diagram with a large center. Although there were experiences that Marie could not relate to, civilians and soldiers had far more in common than they had difference—only the outermost regions of the two circles differed substantially.

Hanna’s second argument is that letter-writing transformed rural France. Although letter writing existed before, it was not something that peasants did frequently. With the onset of the First World War, letter writing became the only way to keep in touch with friends, family, and significant others. By the time the war ended, rural France was a truly literate society. As an example, Hanna points out that—after the war—Marie Pireaud began to order things from department stores in Paris, which was unheard of for peasant girls before the war. In the same manner, Paul Pireaud decided to modernize his farm techniques. To do this, he did not rely on village folklore or received wisdom from his family. Instead, he wrote to the agricultural college to recommend books for him in order to learn new methods. Truly, the literary traditions fostered by the Great War were a breakthrough.

There is far more here relating to debates about French population concerns during the interwar years and family relationships, but the two arguments I named above were the two that stuck out most to me. Highly recommend.