Abstract

Shell shock is one of the defining images of World War I, a symbol of the mental and physical destruction brought about by the conflict. This article will look at Rudyard Kipling’s artistic response to the trauma, focusing on four linked stories, “In the Interests of the Brethren” and “A Madonna of the Trenches,” “Fairy Kist,” and “The Tender Achilles.” These explore the psychological impact of the war on men on the Western Front and the nature of shell shock and its treatment. This discussion unlike others considers the stories within the context of contemporary military, medical and social attitudes to shell shock and how Kipling the character Dr. Keede engaged a complex, developing discourse. We see Kipling developing his own ideas of the nature of individual and national shell shock—how these can be addressed (never cured) and how postwar personal and national healing can be undertaken.

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