Trauma, primitivism, and the First World War : the making of Frank Prewett

"This book examines the extraordinary life of Frank "Toronto" Prewett and the history of trauma, literary expression, and the power of self-representation after WWI. Joy Porter sheds new light on how the First World War affected the Canadian poet, and how war-induced trauma or "shell-shock" caused him to pretend to be an indigenous North American. Porter investigates his influence of, and acceptance by, some of the most significant literary figures of the time, including Siegfried Sassoon, Edmund Blunden, Wilfred Owen and Robert Graves. In doing so, Porter skillfully connects a number of historiographies that usually exist in isolation from one another and rarely meet. By bringing together a history of the WWI era, early twentieth century history, Native American history, the history of literature, and the history of class Porter expertly crafts a valuable contribution to the field"-- Provided by publisher Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Contents 8 Figures 11 Acknowledgements 12 Abbreviations of archives and collected works 14 Introduction: A poet of modern trauma 16 On method and approach 19 Summary 23 Chapter 1: Being Frank Prewett 28 An enthusiastic Canadian soldier 32 Choosing a fighting indigenous identity 36 Chapter 2: The experience of combat in the First World War 44 The body and the mind in war 47 The positives of war 54 Prewett’s dissociative poem ‘Card Game’ 58 A sheer time: Being blown up, then buried alive 61 Chapter 3: ‘Shell-shock’ 68 ‘Shell-shock’ in interdisciplinary context 68 Gender and ‘shell-shock’ 71 The debate over organic versus psychological causes 73 Incidence and diagnosis 74 Class and ‘shell-shock’ 75 Experiencing ‘shell-shock’ 77 Treatment options 79 Chapter 4: Primitivism, ‘Toronto’ Prewett and Dr William Halse Rivers Rivers (1864–1922) 84 Reconsidering the best-known ‘shell-shock’ doctor of the First World War 84 Rivers’s empathetic reciprocity in clinical context 89 Rivers and primitivism 92 Containing the primitive: The ‘shell-shock’ doctors and the 1898 expedition to the Torres Straits 95 ‘A human experiment in nerve division’ 100 Chapter 5: Adopting the ‘Toronto’ personality at Lennel and meeting Siegfried Sassoon 108 Dressing up and pretending in the early twentieth century 110 ‘Toronto’ Prewett, Long Lance and Grey Owl 111 Sassoon smitten by ‘Toronto’ Prewett 116 Sassoon: A soldier, acting on behalf of soldiers 118 Chapter 6: Prewett’s friendship with Robert Graves and trauma poetry 128 Graves: Conjuror in myth and jests ‘too deep for laughter’ 128 Prewett’s communion with the dead and trauma poetry 134 Chapter 7: An ‘Iroquois’ at Oxford and Garsington 142 Oxford University 142 The theatre of Garsington 145 Ottoline and Philip Morrell 151 Understanding Ottoline via the law of inverse proportion 156 Beauty, philosophy, sex and life in the ‘specious present’ 157 ‘Toronto’ Prewett’s popularity 160 A ‘blue and gold existence’: Ambivalence and Ottoline 163 Chapter 8: Repatriated to a suburbanizing Canada: November 1919–January 1921 168 Return amid pandemic to a consumerist Canada bereft of indigenous values 168 Prewett’s published and unpublished poetry on trauma, romance, sex and nature 172 Chapter 9: ‘Mad in the peace’: Farming and trauma poetry 182 Using Edward Thomas to understand Prewett’s ambivalent relationship with the natural world 183 Chickens and cheese 190 Tubney farm, marriage and a daughter 194 Chapter 10: Prewett responds to changes in the land 198 The Chazzey Tragedy 201 Publishing on country life, marriage and a son 206 Endings: Surviving but not escaping war 208 Conclusion: Protest memory and soft primitivism 214 Primitivism and intellectual change 214 Primitivism and The Rite of Spring 219 Protest memory and trauma poetry 221 Yeats and the exclusion of protest memory 225 Soft primitivism 229 Notes 232 Introduction 232 Chapter 1 233 Chapter 2 236 Chapter 3 240 Chapter 4 243 Chapter 5 248 Chapter 6 252 Chapter 7 253 Chapter 8 258 Chapter 9 260 Chapter 10 262 Conclusion 265 Bibliography 272 Index 298 Being Frank Prewett -- The complicated experience of combat in the First World War -- "Shell-Shock" -- Primitivism, "Toronto" Prewett & Dr. William Halse Rivers Rivers (1864-1922) -- Adopting the "Toronto" Personality at Lennel & meeting Siegfried Sassoon -- Prewett's friendship with Robert Graves & trauma poetry -- An "Iroquois" at Oxford and Garsington -- Repratriated to suburbanizing Canada : November 1919-January 1921 -- "Mad in the Peace" : farming & trauma poetry -- Prewett responds to changes in the land -- Conclusion: Protest memory and soft primitivism