How did couples separated during World War I and II communicate their love in letters? In which ways did they establish, reestablish, or reinforce love bonds - in the face of adverse circumstances (e.g. censorship) as well as a massive instrumentalization of personal writings?

The paper approaches such questions on the basis of material from a project on love, gender relations, and gender positions in the correspondence of nineteenth and twentieth century Austrian couples of lower and middle-class backgrounds. Through this approach, it attempts to come to terms with the remarkable similarities of the epistolary cultures regarding love during World War I and II, and it also attempts to explain the differences.
Time: Tuesday, 1 November 2011, 5 p.m.
Venue: small conference hall, MPI for Human Development