Title
It Was All a Pleasant Business: The Historical Context of "On the Quai at Smyrna"
Document Type
Article
Annotation
Argues that an understanding of the story’s diplomatic and military background is key to clarifying its tone and the reasons behind the narrator’s manner of speaking. After providing a detailed historical account of the Smyrna debacle during the Greco-Turkish conflict of 1919-22, Stewart postulates that the story’s anonymous narrator is a British officer dealing with extreme guilt over his enforced inaction during the inhumane disaster.
Published in
Hemingway Review
Volume
23
Issue
1
Date
Fall 2003
Pages
58-71
COinS
Citation
Stewart, Matthew. “It Was All a Pleasant Business: The Historical Context of ‘On the Quai at Smyrna.’” Hemingway Review 23, no. 1 (Fall 2003): 58-71.