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Watching War

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 October 2020

Jan Mieszkowski
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Abstract

Today we refer to the dissolution of the classical battlefield, since combat is now waged virtually, in information networks as well as on physical terrain. The thesis of this essay is that this transformation of warfare was set in motion in Europe at the turn of the nineteenth century. In the popular mythology of the Napoleonic era, world history is figured as a giant spectacle of clashing of armies whose mysteries can be discerned only by the emperor's all-seeing eye. In contrast, authors such as Rousseau, Stendhal, and Tolstoy propose that military events are best understood not through direct experience of the front lines but by reading about battles or imagining what they must be like. In the modern theater of war, the audience is enjoined to consult a medium that is no longer essentially visual.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
PMLA , Volume 124 , Issue 5: Special Topic War , October 2009 , pp. 1648 - 1661
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 2009

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