Reading Practices in the Trenches of World War I: Experiences of Everyday Life and Time Management

The article analyses various ego-documents (diaries, letters, memoirs), it is devoted to the role of reading books, newspapers and letters in the everyday life of the participants of the First World War on the Russian front. The author pays particular attention to how the descriptions of reading practices reflect the combatants' perceptions of the time they spent reading. From the very beginning of the First World War, there was a need for reading among its participants. Soldiers at the front read the letters they received from home, which allowed them to keep in touch with their small homeland and family. The soldiers read the letters carefully and reread them several times. Even military censorship failed to limit the constant need for communication with home as a reminder of «normal life». The author examines the influence of letters from home on the moral and psychological state of the soldiers. The article analyses the practice of reading newspapers and books by the combatants. Newspapers served primarily an informational function. By reading newspapers, front-line soldiers tried to get an idea of the situation at the front and to learn about life in the rear. This allowed soldiers to synchronise their time with soldiers in other sectors of the front and with the population left behind. Reading newspapers and books was a way to adapt to military reality by continuing to engage in peaceful activities in military conditions. Reading at the front also had a relaxing function, as it was a way of spending leisure time. Front line soldiers used books for self-education, demonstrating the educational role of books. Reading had an escapist function, allowing them to escape from the harshness of the surrounding reality. The author concludes that the practice of reading books, newspapers, and letters by combatants can be considered as a temporal experience, a way to reconfigure the time of war and bridge the gap between the past and future created by battles and trench life.