14. Chapters 22-23: “Healing does go on, even if not in the expected direction”

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About this Lecture

Lecture

In this module, we explore the final two Chapters of the novel, Chapters 22-23, which focus largely on Rivers’ reflections of what he has seen during his time at Craiglockhart War Hospital: he reflects on the methods of Yealland, but – after a dream – cannot convince himself that he is entirely different (“Obviously he and Yealland were both in the business of controlling people”); he also reflects on his work in the Solomon Islands, as well as on the patients’ impact on him (“I think perhaps the patients’ve… have done for me what I couldn’t do for myself”); and finally, he reflects on Sassoon and his return to France (“Rivers knew, though he had never voiced his knowledge, that Sassoon was going back with the intention of being killed.”)

Course

In this course, we explore Pat Barker’s ‘Regeneration’. Set in 1917 in Craiglockhart War Hospital in Edinburgh, the novel follows psychiatrist William Rivers as he treats shell-shocked soldiers, including the poets Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen. This course sees Professor John McRae (University of Nottingham) read through novel chapter-by-chapter, focusing on key moments and episodes in the novel, thinking about the wider themes and issues with which this rich, complex, and enjoyable novel is engaged.

Lecturer

John McRae is Special Professor of Language in Literature Studies and Teaching Associate in the School of English at Nottingham University, and holds Visiting Professorships in China, Malaysia, Spain and the USA. He is co-author of The Routledge History of Literature in English with Ron Carter, and also wrote The Language of Poetry, Literature with a Small 'l' and the first critical edition of Teleny by Oscar Wilde and others.