Department of English Professor Birger Vanwesenbeeck had two essays published in the Los Angeles Review of Books.
In “Dulce et Decorum,” Dr. Vanwesenbeeck looks at the recent array of Armistice centennial celebrations in Europe and reflects critically on their co-optation by nationalist politics.
“What we are apparently unable to say, even a hundred years after the end of the Great War and after spending four years busily remembering it,” so Vanwesenbeeck wrote, “is the disturbing truth that those who died did in fact die in vain.”
In another essay, “Charts of Childhood, Maps of Family,” Vanwesenbeeck reviews former Fredonia English professor Dustin Parsons’ recent essay collection “Exploded View,” lauding the author’s skill in juxtaposing text and image in order to solicit the reader’s empathy.
The two essays may be found online.
