Shell-shock and the Cultural History of the Great War

Abstract

This article suggests that ‘shell shock’ was a discourse both medical and metaphorical. Its iconic force in capturing key elements of the impact of the Great War on British society arises from the lesser significance, in comparison with France and Germany, of veterans' movements in British political life. ‘Shell shock’ was, therefore, a language of validation, of moral standing as well as entitlement to a pension. Given the highly charged nature of the category, it is at least arguable that the well-known division between symptoms attributable to officers and those attributable to men is suspect; this distinction probably described labels rather than conditions, the invasion of medical discourse by class-based notions of stoicism and courage.