Matter and Memory in the Landscapes of Conflict: The Western Front 1914–1999

Abstract

The destruction of land and life created new landscapes infused with new meanings – a reordering of existence whose memories and associations came into conflict with other realities after 1918, and continue to do so. Despite the largely static nature of trench warfare, Western Front battlefields were metaphysically unstable places. Landscapes exist as cultural images as well as physical places. Between 1914 and 1939 on the Western Front, images and constructions were multi-vocal, contesting each other as different conceptions of the world. As matter was being re-ordered through reconstruction in line with the memories and aspirations of returning refugees, the Western Front was becoming also a landscape of remembrance for thousands of battlefield pilgrims and tourists. Apart from a credible archaeology, the most development to contest Western Front landscapes has been that which combines elements of preservation, reconstruction, and re-presentation of parts of Great War battlefields as more or less emotionally charged aspects of cultural heritage.

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