Three Theses on Reconstruction

Realism and Reconstruction: A Comparative Perspective

“…In both the U.S. and in Spain, many writers were keenly aware of the ways in which the physical battles slowly but surely gave way to cultural battles, as the fight over memory and identity became a "continuation of the Civil War by other means." 17 George Orwell's Homage to Catalonia (1938) provides an illuminating and affecting account of that continuation. Orwell's memoir about his time in Spain is realist in both style and perspective, and it chronicles numerous experiences that shattered his illusions, from his dealings with the sordid realities of camp ("The Latin type of latrine, at which you have to squat, is bad enough at its best, but these were made of some kind of polished stone so slippery that it was all you could do to keep on your feet") to the terrors of the battlefield ("The essential horror of army life .…”