The War Underground: Trenches and Tunnels in the Writings of (Ex)Combatants

Abstract

In the imagination of the World War I, as well as in many subsequent wars, underground spaces such as trenches and tunnels have often assumed conflicting values: places of death, of unreal destruction, of madness on the one hand, and protection, shelter, expression of the simple and rational humanity on the other. This paper aims to reread some examples of war narratives, both fictional and not, highlighting these ambivalences: from Emilio Lussu to Erich-Maria Remarque and Mario Rigoni-Stern, from Gelasio Caetani to Tim O'Brien, making use of the extensive critical bibliography on war literature, as well as of comparatistic thematology.