SOURCE: “Churchill and the Limitations of Myth,” in Yale Review, Vol. 44, No. 2, Winter 1954-55, pp. 248-63.

In the following essay, Whittemore argues that Churchill in his Second World War series interpreted the war in mythological terms, which served to inflate his role in key events.

Winston Churchill won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1953. He won it “for his historical and biographical presentations and for the scintillating oratory in which he has stood forth as a defender of human values.” The New York Times praised his choice editorially, adding that “words well chosen, uttered at the right time, bravely spoken, are the most powerful things in the world. They are powerful because they appeal to the hearts of men. They can drive men to madness, as Hitler's words did. They may inspire them to acts of utter heroism and self-sacrifice, as Churchill's did.”

Less satisfied critics found the...