| Popis: |
States at war become quintessential states of exception, as Flanagan’s novel demonstrates. Japanese soldiers and Korean guards demonstrate imperial exceptionalism leading to war’s worst atrocities. A memorable counter-community emerges among the suffering Australians in the POW camp, with Gardiner at its center unifying the others around communal values of empathy, hope, and responsibility. After exploring Flanagan’s use of historical sources, the chapter shows how Gardiner demonstrates community, while Evans loses himself in becoming a symbol of exceptional Australia after the war. The chapter addresses formal implications: the novel’s fragmentation of time reflects the disruption of Western myths of coherent progress and reason in war, while its inclusive focus on multiple characters foregrounds the communities that coalesce amid war’s forced precarity. |
