Nursing Politics and the Body in First World War Life-Writing S

Nursing Politics and the Body in First World War Life-Writing S. Bonnerjee Ph.D English Literature 2018 Nursing Politics and the Body in First World War Life-Writing Samraghni Bonnerjee Ph.D English Literature School of English Faculty of Arts and Humanities August 2018 হে পূর্ণ, তব চরণের কাছে যাহা-কিছু সব আছে আছে আছে নাই নাই ভয়, সে শুধু আমারই, নিশিদিন কাাঁদি তাই। অন্তরগ্লানি সংসারভার পলক ফেলিতে কোথা একাকার জীবনের মাঝে স্বরূপ তোমার রাখিবারে যদি পাই।। রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর, ১৩০৭ (১৯০১) Thou all Perfect. everything abides at Thy feet for all time. The fear of loss only clings to me with its ceaseless grief, but the shame of my penury and my life’s burden vanish in a moment when I feel Thy presence in the centre of my being. Rabindranath Tagore, Poems, Visva-Bharati, 1942 Abstract Nursing Politics and the Body in First World War Life-Writing This thesis examines the diaries and retrospective memoirs of trained and volunteer Anglophone nurses of the First World War. In the chapters that follow, I read their published and unpublished (from archival sources) writings to analyses their political affiliations for volunteering in war-work, and offer an affective reading of representations of bodies in their writings. The thesis is rooted in the genre of Life-Writing and it draws on a cultural and emotional history of war, as well as a Medical Humanities approach. The thesis begins by arguing that Florence Nightingale was the author of the genre of the war nurse’s life-writing. It reads her personal writings during her training at Kaiserswerth and during the Crimean War to trace the legacy and influence of her cultural image among the nurses of the First World War. The second chapter then analyses the motivations of nurses to volunteer for the First World War and reveals the various ‘kinds’ of the war nurse: the patriotic, the romantic, the pacifist, and the feminist. It reads memoirs published during and after the War to demonstrate that the reasons nurses volunteered to serve in the War were myriad and complicated and should be looked at from positions of “inferiority complex” and opportunity to finally participate in public life and actively contribute to the war effort from which they had been barred because of their gender. Both metaphorically and physically, the nurses dwelt in no man’s land: barred from fighting, and distinct from the Home Front, their work bridged the gap between these two fronts. The hospitals where they worked were transformed into “second battlefields”, and in the third chapter, I examine the effect this other fighting has on their own bodies. The chapter reads how they represent their own bodies in ink as they counter the shock of actual bodily contact with wounded, vulnerable, naked male bodies and how they embed touch and knowledge within the subtext of desire. It then analyses the long-lasting effects of this work on their bodies and minds, by reading instances of physical breakdown, sicknesses, and war neuroses in the writings of the nurses Moving on from their own bodies, the thesis then considers the representations of the wounded bodies of the soldiers in the writings of the nurses. The fourth chapter draws on the grotesque and Foucauldian gaze as a means of reading the representations of mutilated bodies, faces, and hideous wounds of the soldiers, ultimately offering an affective reading of the helplessness faced by the nurses witnessing physical pain experienced by the soldiers. It considers the question of how the nurses looked at mutilated, disfigured, dead bodies, and represented the full range of emotions and experiences arising out of that viewing. The final chapter of the thesis examines the encounter of the nurses with the body of the wounded colonised soldier. It close-reads the removal of nurses from British hospitals treating Indian soldiers, through the intersections of gender, race, and class, laying bare fears of miscegenation, eugenics, and degeneracy. It then reads writings by British and Australian nurses in France, Mesopotamia and India, to lay bare an infantilising attitude in their treatment of their non-white patients, and racial discrimination in their administration of medical care. Acknowledgements This thesis was only possible by the generous funding of the Vice Chancellor’s Scholarship, which brought me to Sheffield from Calcutta and exposed me to the multitudes of resources, opportunities, and intellectual rigour of British HE. I will be forever grateful to Professor Sir Keith Burnett for investing in the futures of ten students from developing countries and to the members of the selection committee who chose me as a recipient of the scholarship. It changed my life and made this PhD thesis possible. My next heartfelt gratitude lies with my supervisors, Dr Katherine Ebury and Professor Adam Piette, whose unwavering support and patience for me has been astounding. They patiently helped me navigate through the workings of a British university, and continued to offer me extremely kind, rigorous, and helpful feedback until the very end. Katherine has consistently gone out of her way to support me, and in her tireless championing of me over the past four years, has shown how senior academics could support vulnerable ECRs. She has been my rock and my role model. I can never thank her enough for all her support and hard work. My heartfelt thanks to my wonderful partner Chris without whom this thesis would simply not have looked like this. He has been my constant companion for the past three years, making sure that I was in the right library or archive in the right corner of the world at the right time, finding archival sources for me when I could not afford to go, and supporting me from the audience at almost every talk where versions of this thesis were presented. He has made me believe in myself and my work, and has supported me through every emotional pitfall I have experienced as I navigated my way through the writing of this thesis. A special mention to the fabulous librarians of the University of Sheffield, especially the wonderful people working in the Interlibrary Loan section who went out of their way (often breaking rules) to procure books and articles for me. They cannot be named, but I will always remember them with gratitude. My thanks to the wonderful researchers in First World War studies, whom I have met over the past few years through conferences and events of International Society of First World War Studies and First World War Network. I am very fortunate to be a part of such a dynamic and welcoming community, where senior researchers have consistently praised me and supported me for my work. Especially thank you to Professor Alison Fell who has become my mentor, and has continued to find time to advise me and read my work. I have learnt a lot from my long conversations with my dear friend Ethel, who has made me more critical and rigorous in my thinking. Knowing her so intimately has been my privilege, and she has had a profound influence in my thinking and development, and my strongest role-model. Oli, with whom I spent hours every week for the last four years talking about critical race theory and life, and learning compassion in my work, first made me interested in Australia. His dynamic energy and eclectic reading inspired me to work harder and think harder. He has always been there for me, and now thousands of miles away, still continues to be interested in my work and reminds me to believe in myself. My friends at Floor 5, Yasir, Shahzad, and Anood kept the desk space a very diverse and welcoming place. They are brimming with kindness and I have always fallen back upon them for advice. I have teased out several ideas with Ragna—a lot over Skype and emails—and I continue to think about the phenomenology of pain in the writings of the nurses, courtesy her. Davina, who saw the beginning of this project, has believed in my abilities even as I struggled with scope in the beginning. Fatima listened to me talk about my research, encouraged me, and believed in me. Her own hard work and sincerity inspired me as I worked on my thesis. Alex regularly supplied me with my favourite crisps (sweet chilli) while I was immersed in writing, and opened his house to me whenever I needed. My best friends Shiny and Sayantani have been part of this journey from the very beginning, and Shiny has been intricately involved until the very end. Toni and Janet opened their house and their hearts to me, fed me and clothed me over the past years (Janet’s hand-knitted alpaca-wool snood, hat, and socks kept me warm as I struggled with the second chapter while the cold wave raged outside). Chris B., David and the much-missed Lucy similarly opened their doors for me and offered me support and friendship when I needed it most. The long walks with Lucy helped with many ideas which are now parts of Chapters Three and Four. Chris has been extremely generous with her time and advice for me over the past three years and I owe a lot to her. Finally, I am grateful to my parents, who, in allowing me to take the second flight on the 19th of September 2014, made this PhD journey possible.

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