Domestic trauma in Rebecca West's The Return of the Soldier

Abstract

This study proposes a new interpretation of Rebecca West's World War I novel, The Return of the Soldier, which was published in 1918. It argues that Kitty, much like her shell-shocked husband Chris (the novel's central protagonist and the focus of most literary criticism), also experiences severe trauma and in turn suffers from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Yet, because her war is a private, feminine battle, Kitty's trauma is not recognized by either the male-dominated society in which she lives or by recent modern critics.