The Space Between is a society for the study of literature and culture of the period between the First and Second World Wars. It provides an interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary forum for discussion and research of texts, authors and new approaches to traditionally canonical works. It also encourages fresh examinations of art, society and culture illuminating the interwar and wartime periods.
The Space Between Society offers a prize for the best essay presented at our annual conference.
The winner of the 2015 essay prize was Joseph Elkanah Rosenberg for his outstanding essay “Paper Bombs.” The adjudicating committee indicated that the choice was unanimous, and included the following comments:
~ “In his ‘Paper Bombs,’ Rosenberg examines deftly the tropes of salvaging and saving in the discourse surrounding books and reading in World War II England. His paper draws on archive studies, visual analysis, and close reading of scenes of reading to show that books were victims of bombings and burnings, that the act of reading and the reading subject could themselves be subject to wartime violence. ‘Paper Bombs’ exemplifies the imaginative interdisciplinary work that is the hallmark of The Space Between, and offers creative new insight into the culture of wartime.”
~ “The paper combines poise and fluency in its scope with clever allusions to theory to generate a meaningful and intriguing argument with a beautiful conclusion.”
~ “Rosenberg’s essay stood out in a group of strong papers. I especially admired “Paper Bombs”‘ pithy title and adroit sifting through the reconstructive layers, photographic and ideological, of the iconic shot of the Holland House library to explore the material and literary resonance of paper in wartime.”
The Space Between information: https://spacebetweensociety.org/conference/essay-prize/