Revisiting the Past, Narrating War Memories: Retelling the Falklands War in A Soldier’s Song
Revisiting the Past, Narrating War Memories: Retelling the Falklands War in A Soldier’s Song
Author(s): Andrea Roxana BellotSubject(s): Studies of Literature, Military history, Post-War period (1950 - 1989), British Literature
Published by: Editura Universităţii din Bucureşti
Keywords: A Soldier’s Song (K. Lukowiak, 1993); Falklands War military memoir; war memories revisited; war recollections; rewriting war trauma;
Summary/Abstract: Private Ken Lukowiak was a member of the Second Battalion Parachute Regiment (2 PARA) of the British Army deployed to the Falkland Islands for the 1982 British-Argentine conflict. The veteran’s creative drive motivated him into writing down his memories, and writing helped him overcome his war traumas. This paper seeks to explore Lukowiak’s memoir as a work offering an alternative retelling of the Falklands War, based on a deep emotional framework, in contrast to the narrative of heroism favoured by mass media. His personal account emphasizes the psychological distress and detachment of a soldier in opposition to the supposedly exemplary and outstanding behaviour of troops as often portrayed in mainstream journalism during and after the armed conflict.
Journal: University of Bucharest Review. Literary and Cultural Studies Series
- Issue Year: XI/2021
- Issue No: 1
- Page Range: 6-17
- Page Count: 12
- Language: English
