Brian Friel’s play, Translations (1980), is set in 19th-century Ireland during the arrival of British troops who are tasked with surveying the Ballybeg landscape and converting Gaelic place names to English. Friel delves into various issues surrounding Britain’s occupation of Ireland.

William Trevor’s work, including The News from Ireland, and Other Stories (1986), highlights the significance of personal and national history. He focuses on isolated individuals weighed down by their past.

Frank O’Connor’s ‘‘Attack’’ (1931), set during the Irish Rebellion, follows a group of rebels as they plan to assault a nearby police station. While at a house near the station, they uncover a mysterious secret in the attic.

Wilfred Owen’s poem ‘‘Dulce et Decorum Est’’ (1920), part of The Collected Poems of Wilfred Owen, was penned while Owen was in the trenches during World War I. The poem critiques the glorification of war from the perspective of someone experiencing its horrors firsthand. Owen refers to this glorification as ‘‘The old lie.’’

Yukio Mishima’s ‘‘Patriotism’’ (1966) explores the Oriental perspective on national patriotism in deeply personal and gruesome ways.

Memoirs of an Infantry Officer (1930) by Siegfried Sassoon consists of Sassoon’s personal recollections and diaries from his time as a soldier in World War I.