http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/authors/358/emily-r-hershman Inquiries Journal provides undergraduate and graduate students around the world a platform for the wide dissemination of academic work over a range of core disciplines. en-us Sun, 10 May 2026 08:08:23 -0400 Sun, 10 May 2026 08:08:23 -0400 http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/398/rebecca-wests-the-return-of-the-soldier-analyzing-the-interrelationship-of-male-and-female-traumas By Emily R. Hershman - Rebecca West’s 1918 novel The Return of the Soldier dissects the socioeconomic and psychological tensions wrought by the upheaval of the First World War. In a nuanced reiteration of the typical trope of a soldier’s return, Christopher Baldry is dispatched from the Western front when it becomes apparent that selective amnesia has trapped his mind fifteen years in the past. This preoccupation with shell-shock and immersion in the past subtly couches the novel’s larger motifs in the language of the trauma narrative, as Christopher struggles to reconcile his idealization of a past... Tue, 01 Mar 2011 09:28 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/398/rebecca-wests-the-return-of-the-soldier-analyzing-the-interrelationship-of-male-and-female-traumas