A State of Mind

Regeneration - Pat Barker

There's something I like about Pat Barker - she is linked to two other women I'm quite fond of. First there's Angela Carter - she actually encouraged Barker to concentrate on her writing when she was in her early twenties. The second is Sarah Daniels, a playwright who adapted Barker's novel, Blow Your House Down, for the stage in 1994. Both of these writers have been introduced to me through my A Level studies and I have come to admire the way in which they approach feminist issues.

Regeneration, however, is not a feminist novel. Quite the opposite, it focuses on the experiences of young men during the First World War. The scene is Craiglockhart War Hospital in Edinburgh, a hosptial for soldiers suffering from mental trauma owing to the war. Rivers is the psychiatrist there and through him the reader gathers an insight into the shattering effects that the Western Front has on soldiers' minds. There are also other viewpoints - Billy Prior, a patient in the hospital and Siegfried Sassoon, the renowned war poet.

The insight to Sassoon's time at Craiglockhart is fictional, though based on true events. Sassoon was sent to Craiglockhart after having written a declaration against the continuation of the war in 1917 - although he was not mad, his acquaintance and fellow poet, Robert Graves, claimed he was mentally unstable to avoid him being Court Martialled. Through Barker's portrayal, it is interesting to see how a mentally fit man copes with being surrounded by the mentally ill.

Interestingly, this is not a war novel of battlefront - there is little gore, little rattle of the guns but much more comfort with clean sheets and a basic bedroom. Nevertheless, Barker does not omit the fear and terror from her novel. Some men constantly envisage the blood and perverse dismemberment of friends, others are reminded of the taste of rotting flesh and vomit uncontrolably. Some can't speak, others can't move but rather than focus on the immediate horror of war, Barker looks at the broader picture. The effects of war were often permanent - even those not admitted to a psychiatric hospital were scarred for life by the things they had witnessed. And that is the true horror of war.

Typically, Barker includes the corruption of innocence, the destruction of youth and her disapproval of the Home Front and authorities - Prior's parents lack support and gratitude for their son's sacrifice, Prior also embarks on some uncomfortable sexual journeys with a girl from outside the hospital. Most shocking of all is that, despite the traumatising emotional journey these soldiers go on, the "Board" sends them right back to the source of their troubles once they have sufficiently "recovered". Barker constantly wants the reader to ask 'Why?' The same question we've been asking ourselves since it happened. Why did they have to go? Why did they have to endure those conditions? Why did war turn to slaughter?

This book does not have a complex storyline and the beginning and end rest on Sassoon's stay in the hospital. It is mainly a portrayal of the horror of war through its characters - the character of Rivers enables us to see more deeply into the minds of soldiers in such a way that one hardly dares imagine what it was really like. So, if you're interested in the First World War and particularly its literature, this book (plus the next two in the series) is definitely one to try.
Ultimately, we should all simply seek to learn from writers such as Barker, Sassoon and Graves. But, what a shame - we haven't.

Please comment if you have anything to add to this review of "Regeneration".