Martha Gellhorn (1908-1998). Objectivity revealed: propaganda and the fifth dimension in Martha Gellhorn's spanish civil war reportage

Abstract

The chapter delves into Martha Gellhorn's reportage of the Spanish Civil War and her correspondence method following the premises of of the New Reportage movement, one which pursued an ideal of objectivity in the presentation of the causes and consequences of the conflict through a first-person narration rife with empirical data and sensory information, and frequently illustrated with photographic documents. However, an in-depth analysis of her war reportage shows that the writing style is paradoxically characterized by a mimetic record of facts mixed with a great dose of "logical fantasy" (Kisch 1961) through a series of rhetorical strategies (biblical images, mythological echoes and literary allusions) with a view to disseminating the political message. The chapter provides a detailed reading of the seven articles published By Gellhorn on the Spanish War (from July 1937 to November 1938) in an attempt to throw some light on the craft principles of her dispatches from the front.