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The Repression and Articulation of War Experience: A Study of the Literary Culture of Craiglockhart War Hospital Anne-Catriona Schaupp Doctor of Philosophy The University of Edinburgh 2017 2 3 Abstract* Prior study of Craiglockhart War Hospital has focused on the hospital’s two most famous patients, Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon, along with the work of the psychotherapist W. H. R. Rivers. Craiglockhart’s literary culture is studied in detail for the first time in this thesis and the hospital’s therapeutic ethos used as a framework by which the creative work produced at the hospital can be examined. This thesis argues that the British Army’s lack of consensus regarding the best treatment of war neuroses facilitated the development of Craiglockhart’s expressive culture, in which patients were encouraged both to articulate their wartime memories and return to purposeful activity. The hospital’s magazine, The Hydra, is examined at length; both in terms of its links to the wider genre of wartime soldier publications and as a telling document of the hospital’s therapies in action. Owen and Sassoon’s time at the hospital is also discussed, with particular emphasis on the hospital’s central importance in Owen’s poetic development and its troubling legacy in the post-war life of Sassoon. Finally, readers are introduced to George Henry Bonner, a patient of the hospital whose creative work is discussed here for the first time. This study makes clear the fact that, for the hospital’s literary-minded patients, creative endeavour was an ideal means by which to negotiate the movement away from repression to the articulation of their wartime experiences. *Lay Abstract identical 4 5 Signed Declaration I confirm that this thesis, presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, has: i) been composed entirely by myself, ii) been solely the result of my own work, iii) not been submitted for any other degree or professional qualification. 6 7 Acknowledgements Thanks first and foremost to my supervisor, Randall Stevenson. Thank you for your guidance over the years. ‘Thank you, thank you!’ to my family and friends. I am beyond lucky to have you in my life and I couldn’t have finished this thesis without your support. You know who you are. If you think I’m referring to you: I am. Mutti: Thanks for always being there for me and for your love. You’re amazing. I think Dad would be proud of us! Mattias: Jag är väldigt lycklig som träffade dig. Tack för allt! Jag älskar dig. 8 9 Contents Abstract…………………………………………………………………….3 Signed Declaration………………………………………………………..5 Acknowledgements……………………………………………………….7 Contents……………………………………………………………………9 List of Figures……………………………………………………………...11 1. Introduction……………………………………………………………..13 2. Craiglockhart War Hospital: A Progressive Institution……………..19 3. The Hydra: The Magazine of Craiglockhart’s Literary Culture…….47 4. Negotiating the Road to Recovery: Poetry and The Hydra………..79 5. Inspiration and Therapy: Wilfred Owen at Craiglockhart………….107 6. Wilfred Owen after Craiglockhart: From Craiglockhart to France…………………………………...137 7. Sassoon’s Revisitations: The Legacy of Craiglockhart……………167 8. George Henry Bonner: A New Voice of Craiglockhart’s Literary Culture………………199 9. Conclusion……………………………………………………………...225 Appendices Appendix A………………………………………………………...229 Appendix B………………………………………………………...239 Appendix C………………………………………………………...241 Endnotes…………………………………………………………………...253 Works Cited………………………………………………………………..257 10 11 List of Figures Figure 1 The cover of The Hydra’s first print run……………………...52 Figure 2 The cover of The Hydra’s ‘New Series’…………..................52 Figure 3 Berrington’s illustration for the ‘Notes and News’ section of The Hydra’s ‘New Series’..………………................53 Figure 4 Figure 4 A ‘Notes and News’ page from The Hydra’s first issue (28 April 1917)…………………………………………56 Figure 5 ‘An Anglers Dream at Bowhill’ (The Hydra, June 1917)…….73 Figure 6 ‘Shell Shock!’ (The Hydra, December 1917)…………………73 All items are from the First World War Poetry Digital Archive, University of Oxford (www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/ww1lit); © English Faculty Library, University of Oxford. 12 13 1. Introduction Craiglockhart War Hospital enjoys a prominent position in the literary imagination and is celebrated for the fact that it was there, in August 1917, that Wilfred Owen met Siegfried Sassoon. Despite the volume of scholarship that has examined the lives of Owen and Sassoon, it is remarkable that a full-length study of Craiglockhart War Hospital has not yet been conducted. This thesis aims to redress this balance by making Craiglockhart the main subject of this study. Here, the connections between Craiglockhart’s therapeutic ethos and the hospital’s literary culture will be studied in detail for the first time. It will be argued that the expressive emphasis of Craiglockhart’s treatment method did much to encourage the hospital’s literary-minded patients to engage in creative activities while being treated there. Furthermore, it was by engaging in literary activity while at the hospital that patients were encouraged to move away from repressing their traumatic memories and to embrace the articulation of experience as a curative strategy. Craiglockhart War Hospital was operational between 1916 and 1919, and was located in the village of Slateford, which is now part of the City of Edinburgh. The hospital was designated exclusively for the treatment of officers, who were referred to Craiglockhart with symptoms of neurasthenia after becoming mental casualties of the war while on active service. The hospital is now remembered for its literary connections. As mentioned above, it was at Craiglockhart that the poets Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon met for the first time, which is a meeting that has taken on great significance, given the fact that they are now counted among the finest poets of the First World War. Wilfred Owen famously arrived at the hospital suffering from neurasthenia and harbouring dreams of becoming a poet and found his life transformed by his contact with Sassoon, who helped him to realise his poetic aspirations. Siegfried Sassoon’s time at the hospital was 14 not one of recuperation but rather one of incarceration, as he was sent there in July 1917 after protesting against the continuation of the war. In addition to being of interest in literary terms, Craiglockhart’s wartime history has made it the subject of further scholarly attention thanks to its significance to medical history. Not only did one of the First World War’s most famous doctors, W.H.R. Rivers, work at the hospital between October 1916 and November 1917, the hospital itself was a progressive institution as a result of the fact that it embraced the use of psychology for the treatment of the war’s mental casualties at a time when the discipline remained in its infancy. It is remarkable that Craiglockhart War Hospital has not yet been the subject of a full-length study, given its rich historical significance. However, the hospital’s wartime history has been celebrated in creative works that have brought Craiglockhart to the attention of a wider audience. The first creative work inspired by the hospital was Stephen MacDonald’s play, Not About Heroes, which premiered at the Edinburgh Festival in 1982. The two- man play took as its focus the friendship that blossomed between Owen and Sassoon during their time at Craiglockhart, told by way of flashbacks narrated by the older Sassoon in the post-war years. It was following the publication of Pat Barker’s novel Regeneration, in 1991, that Craiglockhart was catapulted into the public imagination. The novel, which was the first volume of the Regeneration Trilogy, was set at Craiglockhart and described life at the hospital in detail. In the novel, Barker took a historiographical approach to her subject matter, weaving together historical and fictional details. In addition to describing historical events, such as the aftermath of Sassoon’s protest, his interactions with his doctor, W. H. R. Rivers, and friendship with Owen, the novel fused fictional elements into the narrative, as evidenced by the character of Billy Prior, a fictional patient who interacts with the historical figures within the novel. Regeneration was a critical and popular success, and the powerful grip that the Regeneration Trilogy exerted on the popular and critical imagination is 15 evidenced by the fact that the final novel in the trilogy, The Ghost Road, went on to win the Man Booker Prize in 1995. Regeneration was later made into a film, directed by Gillies MacKinnon, which was nominated for the Best British Film BAFTA Award in 1997, the year of its release, thus ensuring Craiglockhart’s prominence in the public imagination for many years. For as long as Craiglockhart continues to be appended to studies of Owen, Sassoon and the medical history of the First World War, the hospital will remain an enigmatic entity about which we know relatively little. In literary terms, a key question resonates. What was the nature of the literary culture fostered at Craiglockhart and did it exert a tangible impact on the hospital’s patients? It is by using this line of enquiry as the basis for a literary study of the hospital that this thesis hopes to initiate a greater scholarly conversation focused on Craiglockhart.