The Great War And Modern Memory

An outcome of World War I was a new medical disorder classified as Shell Shock. Shell Shock is a medical disorder developed to describe the symptoms that soldiers developed without a probable or obvious lesion as the cause after serving time on the war front. Shell Shock is one of the most prominent injuries of World War I; the symptoms varied among each soldier, treatments were still being developed, and doctors were still trying to understand the severity of the disorder. The symptoms soldiers described are due to the stress they encountered while they served on the front line. Shell Shock is a condition that soldiers have begun to develop after serving in the war.

In 1975 the Oxford University Press published the first edition of The Great War and Modern Memory written by Paul Fussell. As Fussell states in the opening line, “this book is about the British experience on the Western Front from 1914 to 1918.” In this paper I will argue, that despite the numerous literary awards this book has won, it contains historical inaccuracies and shortcomings in relation to the accurate information provided that takes away from the prestige of the book. Despite the numerous negative aspects of the book, this paper will also briefly highlight the few positive areas of the book, therefore providing an in-depth analysis of the book.

The tactics used in World War I were radically different than that of previous wars. The majority of the war was fought in the trenches, and the war itself seemed to have no end. Due to this, the psychological impact of the war was unlike anything that had been seen before. During the early days of the war, the soldiers, on both sides, seemed to lack the dedication that would have been necessary to exterminate their enemy. However, as the war progressed, the desire to avenge their fallen comrades overcame their ethics and they began to kill their enemy indiscriminately. Surviving soldiers experienced a phenomenon that was, at that time, referred to as shell shock. Today we refer to this phenomenon as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. At this time, this psychological condition was misunderstood and the doctors lacked the training necessary to effectively treat this condition.

An American machine gunner, Charles Yale Harrison, says in his novel, Generals Die in Bed: “[War] take[s] everything from us: our lives, our blood, our hearts; even the few lousy hours of rest, they take those, too. Our job is to give, and theirs is to take,” (Harrison, 26). In this example, Harrison explains how war is the most selfish and strongest of all evils; war continues to take everything someone has until they have nothing left to take. The war also created long-term effects for soldiers; one being shell-shock. This term is used to describe the damage of constant loud shelling during war which greatly affected those who were not exposed to shelling frequently (Unnamed). Another term that is still used today is PTSD, (“Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder”), which is used to describe the effect war had on the soldiers afterward (Unnamed). World War I brought major psychological disorders upon the soldiers during and after the war had ended leading to great damage for the rest of the victim’s

It was not until the 1980’s that the diagnosis of PTSD as we know it today came to be. However, throughout history people have recognized that exposure to combat situations can have profound negative impact on the mind s and bodies of individuals in these situations. But there are other catastrophic events that can have such profound impact on people resulting in PTSD…

​War takes a toll on those who fight, or are affected by it, this is undeniable. Over the course of the 20th Century, within the U.S. Military and Psychiatric Community the way that this effect is identified and treated has changed many times based on the conflict and the mindset of the American public. The purpose of this report is to discuss the history of the mental effect of the trauma created by US involvement in wars within the 20th Century and the steps that were taken in those eras to predict, prepare and treat for those effects.

Leese’s article, “Casualties: On the Western Front,” was about how the military did not recognize non organic injuries as real injuries until 1915. The soldiers on the frontline, understood the psychological injury, sometimes called “shell shock,” better than anyone. During the war, mental health and illness were determined by the military’s nee for man power so the army rejected the ideal and simply called it hysteria. That was until the French army realized that there was more to it than hysteria and the search for answers began. The article also contains stories about the experiences of the soldier on the frontline. The author’s main points were convincing because of the many details the article contained as well as the numerous stories.

The Great War and Modern Memory, is collection of literature from World War I, and is about World War I, that he uses to create an all encompassing picture of the war and how it was experienced by those who fought in it. In Paul Fussell’s The Great War and Modern Memory, he argues that, war is irony, and that World War I was hope abridged, and this parallels his presentation of homosexuality in World War I. Throughout the work, Fussell argues that World War I was an agony of irony, and moreover that all wars are ironic. To do this he uses literature of the time and analyzes the circumstances, thoughts and literary craft of the writing. Finally, one of the most ironic parts of this work, was the section “Soldier Boys” and Fussell’s analysis of homosexuality on the

The article, Understanding Critical Disability Studies, written by Geoffrey Reaume, illuminates his grandfather’s horrific experience in World War 1 and how he was dismissed as psychologically unfit due to sickness that was subsequently confirmed as shell shock. According to Reaume, World War 1 haunted his grandfather for the rest of his life like several veterans. Reaume further solidifies that his grandfather’s experience in the war can only be described as mud-spattered, noisy and deadly which triggered his symptoms of shock, and individuals who suffered psychological distress were seen as outcasts rather than heroes and fighters. Chiefly, the value of this article is gripping because of the terrors men faced in the war and ignorance they

Similarly, Fussell is neutral throughout his book, which enables him to be cohesive and direct with his points and illustrations. In his introduction, he states that his book is about “the British experience on the Western Front…and some of the literary means by which it has been remembered, conventionalized, and mythologized” (ix). He quickly makes a disclaimer that his readers will find themselves reading mostly about British literature and the trench life of both British and France. While reading through The Great War and Modern Memory, it can be noted that Fussell generally leaves his opinions out from the narrative. His focus is to find the way “the dynamics and iconography of the Great War have proved crucial political, rhetorical, and artistic determinants on subsequent life” (ix). He does that by gathering his resources, studying them, and presenting them as they are. He wants history and the works of writers from the past to speak for themselves. Writing in such a way allows him to develop his point, on how literary elements that developed the minds of those living in the twentieth century, effectively and concisely. Perhaps this is why he states that if he were to subtitle his novel, it would be called “An Inquiry into the Curious Literariness of Real Life” (ix). He wants all of the examined “literary traditions [writings of soldiers] and real life to transect” so that he won’t have to twist any ideas provided by those who experienced the war. He wants to analyze

World War One, to this day, holds some of the most horrific events in all of world history. Susan R. Grayzel’s nonfiction work, The First World War A Brief History with Documents, gives first hand accounts of the terrifying events that took place between 1914 and 1919 that drastically changed the lives of all who were living during the time. The documents created during this time effectively reveal the fear that radiated on the home front and frontline as a result of newfound warfare and the first occurrence of total war.

Regeneration focuses on troubled soldiers ' mental states during WW1. The Craiglockhart setting allows Barker to explore the psychological effects of warfare on men who went to fight and also their feelings about the war and the military 's involvement in it. While the focus of the novel is firmly on the male perspective (indeed Barker claimed she had partly chosen this novel to prove she could 'do men as well as women '), there is a small but important female presence.

In his The Great War and Modern Memory, Paul Fussell quotes Theodor Ropp when he asserts that while “[t]he American Civil war was the first [war]…‘in which really large numbers of literate men fought as common soldiers,’” by the outbreak of the First World War in “1914, it was possible for soldiers to be not merely literate but vigorously literary” (157). He continues, arguing that because “the belief in the powers of classical and English literature was still extremely strong” in England, allusions to the magna opera of the English canon appear throughout the works of Great War poets. One such poet was David Jones, whose deeply allusive novel-length poem of 1937, In Parenthesis, incorporates elements of the English canon from its very founding in Anglo-Saxon Britain, through Malory and Shakespeare, and into the nineteenth century with Romantics like Coleridge.

Regeneration by Pat Barker is an anti-war novel that focuses on the effect of war on the psychological mind. Barker uses many techniques to portray her position about the war. In 1917, during World War I, Siegfried Sassoon declares his objection of the war and refuses to continue serving as a British officer. Determined as suffering under the ailment of “shell-shock”, Sassoon was sent to Craiglockhart War Hospital to undergo treatment and recover his “sanity”. Dr. William Rivers, the psychiatrist in charge, is determined to find out what is going on in Sassoon’s mind while treating the many other traumatized patients at Craiglockhart. The theme of Regeneration is the horrors and effects of war and how soldiers are psychologically

In Regeneration and "Disabled," Pat Barker and Wilfred Owen explore how war affects the individual. Barker and Owen chronicle the lives of soldiers who suffer from physical, emotional and mental trauma from the war. These two writers ' honest, realistic depictions of soldiers ' suffering reveal the incredible costs of war. Barker and Owen show how memories of the war hinder soldiers ' ability to live in the present and drastically transform the way they experience the world.