Page:European war fiction in English (1921).djvu/13

 PREFACE

When one stops to consider the overwhelming amount of printed material issued during the past five years about the war, one wonders if it will ever be fully organized for the use of students. Even within one division of the war material, such as English fiction, the number of volumes is still so large that any bibliography such as this can merely hope to serve as a beginning to the subject. Paradoxically, this aims to be a complete bibliography, as far as the study has gone. The number of titles included has been generous, because in so large a subject one must begin with the many and gradually thru further study eliminate the less useful works. Undoubtedly there are books included which would have been omitted had there been opportunity for more study of the actual texts instead of only reviews.

The bibliography has been limited in the following ways. Only American bibliographic sources have been used. Except for the three novels about Alsace-Lorraine, none have been included whose setting has not been within the war months, that is from August, 1914 to Armistice Day. This excludes the fiction dealing with reconstruction and other after the war problems, which make a subject by themselves. Fiction that only touches on war problems or is wildly improbable is of no interest to this subject and has been omitted as far as possible. An effort has also been made to distinguish closely between fiction and personal narratives and to omit the latter. The term "European war fiction in English" has been interpreted to include translations of fiction into 9