In her "Author's Note" for the novel, she describes the research which she used to create the novel, and how she drew on a number of sources from different period authors. The novel draws considerable inspiration from historical events. Literary critic Greg Harris describes her use of historical circumstances and historical source materials as largely, " "true" to the extent that the lives of the real-life characters, including Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon, and Robert Graves, did intertwine." [7] Moreover, Harris argues that Barker accurately captures the psychological situation in which the characters, especially the literary characters, were producing their poetry. [7] French literary critic Marie-Noëlle Provost-Vallet highlights different misinterpretations and anachronistic cultural references supporting a critique of the novel by blogger and critic Esther MacCallum-Stewart. [8] However, she also notes the novel accurately assesses other parts of the historical context, such as the treatment of the World War I poets' and their poetic process. [8] Genre [ edit ] AntagonistMadness; Rivers and his patients must fight against the war neuroses in an attempt to heal, but first they must determine what the madness is Therefore, she turned her attention to the First World War, which she had always wanted to write about due to her step-grandfather's wartime experiences. Wounded by a bayonet and left with a scar, he would not speak about the war. [10] She was inspired to write what is now known as the Regeneration Trilogy— Regeneration (1991), The Eye in the Door (1993), and The Ghost Road (1995)—a set of novels that explore the history of the First World War by focusing on the aftermath of trauma. The books are an unusual blend of history and fiction, and Barker draws extensively on the writings of First World War poets and W.H.R. Rivers, an army doctor who worked with traumatised soldiers. The main characters are based on historical figures, such as Robert Graves, Alice and Hettie Roper (pseudonyms for Alice Wheeldon and her daughter Hettie) with the exception of Billy Prior, whom Barker invented to parallel and contrast with British soldier-poets Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon. As the central fictional character, Billy Prior is in all three books. [16] On 5 November 2019, the BBC News listed Regeneration on its list of the 100 most influential novels. [27] According to academic critic Karin Westman, Regeneration was "well received by reviewers in both the UK and the United States." [28] Beyond frequent praise, the main points discussed often related to the veracity of Barker's depiction of the War period and about her role as a woman writer, along with the connections of this work to her previous novels. [28] Westman argues that many of these critics judged Barker's work on "content rather than style", so that this work allowed her to break from her earlier classification as a regional, working-class feminist into the "(male) canon of British literature". [28] The novel was even one of the "best novels of 1992", according to the New York Times. [1] [29]

Regeneration: Key Facts | SparkNotes Regeneration: Key Facts | SparkNotes

Wilson, Emily (22 August 2018). "The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker review – a feminist Iliad". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077 . Retrieved 1 November 2019. The Eye in the Door begins in the Spring of 1918. It continues the stories of Rivers, Sassoon, and Prior. There is a special focus on Prior in this novel of Barker's. Prior is now working for the domestic side of the military as he was medically discharged from fighting in Regeneration due to his asthma. He is now helping to investigate the plots of pacifist groups that are against the war. Prior is slightly uncomfortable with this. He is not a pacifist but is working class and does not like helping the authorities to spy on ordinary people. Meacham, Jessica (2012). "War, Policing and Surveillance: Pat Barker and the Secret State". In Adam Piette; Mark Rawlinson (eds.). The Edinburgh Companion to Twentieth-century British and American War Literature. Edinburgh University Press. pp.285–293. ISBN 978-0-7486-3874-1. Regeneration is the first in a trilogy of novels by Pat Barker. It was published in 1991. This was then followed by The Eye in the Door (1993) and The Ghost Road (1995). All books in the trilogy revolve around the First World War and contain many of the same characters. The Eye in the Door (1993): Pat BarkerThis trauma was not seen as an acceptable thing to show in the society of First World War Britain. Men were expected to be constantly stoic. That is partly why these men are placed in a hospital isolated from civilisation. Their traumatised behaviours are not thought to be appropriate for others to witness. The First World War was one of the first times society began to come to terms with the idea of trauma as a result of war. Barker shows that this society still had a long time to go.

Regeneration: Character List | SparkNotes Regeneration: Character List | SparkNotes

The story follows several characters, including war poet Siegfried Sassoon, as they struggle to come to terms with the psychological effects of the war. Dr. William Rivers, the psychiatrist at the hospital, treats his patients with compassion and empathy, but is conflicted about his role in the war effort. Robert Graves – Another real life character, Graves is a fellow poet and friend of Sassoon who sees the war as unjust and immoral. However, Graves does not want to make his life more difficult by protesting. Graves sees it as his duty to serve his country regardless of his own moral beliefs.Part II [ edit ] Casualties after a charge in France during World War I. Multiple characters describe their traumatic experiences during battle, and this discussion of trauma and the broken body caused by war becomes thematically central to the novel. The girlfriend of Billy Prior. Sarah is a young, working-class woman who works in a munitions factory in Scotland. Like her mother, she is very practical. She is not sure that true love between a man and a woman is possible, but she is willing to give it a try. As a woman, Sarah has been shielded from many of the horrors of the war. Nevertheless, she is angered that a society that sends its sons out to be killed refuses to face the consequences of the war. Ada Lumb

Regeneration: Full Book Summary | SparkNotes Regeneration: Full Book Summary | SparkNotes

Emasculation appears in the novel in a wide variety of forms. Sassoon remembers the young boy in the bed next to him who has been castrated on the battlefield. Anderson dreams he is tied up with corsets. Prior recalls his weakness against his father and the influence of his mother. Sassoon mentions to Rivers the topic of homosexuality and the idea of an "intermediate sex." Rivers reflects on the "feminine" nature of healing and caring for one another on the battlefield. Joyes, Kaley (2009). "Regenerating Wilfred Owen: Pat Barker's revisions". Mosaic. 42 (3): 169–83. ISSN 0027-1276. After his experience with hypnosis, Prior is traumatised and upset. He begins headbutting Rivers' chest after he wakes up. This seems a somewhat violent act. In reality, it is the only way Prior can touch another man and gain any kind of comfort in a society that does not allow men to do this. A number of Wilfred Owen's poems are in the text. Owen and Sassoon are shown working on Owen's famous poem " Anthem for Doomed Youth" together. Barker also revises Owen's " The Dead-Beat" as well as using " The Parable of the Old Man and the Young" and " Disabled", but, according to critic Kaley Joyes, she does this "without drawing attention to her intertextual actions." [26] According to Joyes, Barker describes Owen's as often received as an " iconic status as an expressive exemplar of the war's tragic losses". [26] Joyes posits that Barkers' subtle uses of some of Owen's poems may be an attempt for circumventing the "preexisting myth" about him and his work. [26] Harris, Greg (1998). "Compulsory Masculinity, Britain, and the Great War: The Literary Historical Work of Pat Barker". Critique. 39 (4): 290–304. doi: 10.1080/00111619809599537. ISSN 0011-1619.Skidelsky, William (13 May 2012). "The 10 best historical novels". The Observer. Guardian Media Group . Retrieved 13 May 2012. It's not an antiwar book in the very simple sense that I was afraid it might seem at the beginning. Not that it isn't an antiwar book: it is. But you can't set up things like the Somme or Passchendaele and use them as an Aunt Sally, because nobody thinks the Somme and Passchendaele were a good idea. So in a sense what we appear to be arguing about is never ever going to be what they [the characters] are actually arguing about, which is a much deeper question of honor, I think. "Honor" is another old-fashioned word like "heroism," but it's very much a key word in the book. [5] Sassoon's letter is read in the House of Commons and is dismissed, as he is considered mentally unstable. Though Sassoon expected this result, he is still saddened and disappointed by the news. Slowly, he begins to become friends with another patient in the hospital, Wilfred Owen. Owen is also a poet and he greatly respects Sassoon's work; Sassoon agrees to help Owen with his poetry. Paul, Ronald (2005). "In Pastoral Fields: The Regeneration Trilogy and Classic First World War Fiction". In Sharon Monteith; Margaretta Jolly; Nahem Yousaf; Ronald Paul (eds.). Critical Perspectives on Pat Barker. Critical Perspectives on Pat Barker. pp.147–61. ISBN 1-57003-570-9. Sassoon refers to Edward Carpenter's writing on sexuality The Intermediate Sex, and it is implied that Sassoon is a homosexual because he states that such works made him feel normal about his sexuality. [23]

Regeneration Study Guide | Literature Guide | LitCharts Regeneration Study Guide | Literature Guide | LitCharts

Around the same time, Sassoon becomes friends with another patient, Wilfred Owen. He too is a poet and Sassoon helps him with his poetry. Owen improves as a writer because of this. He has great respect for Sassoon and greatly admires his work. In 2019, Barker was shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction for The Silence of the Girls. [26] In their review of the novel, The Times wrote, "Chilling, powerful, audacious . . . A searing twist on The Iliad. Amid the recent slew of rewritings of the great Greek myths and classics, Barker's stands out for its forcefulness of purpose and earthy compassion". [27] The Guardian stated, "This is an important, powerful, memorable book that invites us to look differently not only at The Iliad but at our own ways of telling stories about the past and the present, and at how anger and hatred play out in our societies." [28] List of works [ edit ] Part III [ edit ] Original manuscript of Owen's "Anthem for Doomed Youth", showing Sassoon's revisions. Barker recreates the revision process for the poem in Regeneration A conscientious objector is a term used to describe a person who refuses to join an army or participate in violence based on moral grounds. These may be religious or personal reasons. Brannigan, John (2005). Pat Barker: Contemporary British Novelists. Manchester University Press. pp.xi and 6. ISBN 978-0-7190-6577-4.

The women in the bar, including Sarah Lumb, are based on characters from a scene in T. S. Eliot's The Wasteland. [24] Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, and literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text's major themes. Regeneration