A. J. Cronin’s career and fiction with specific reference The Citadel and the context of the foundation of the National Health Service

Dunn, Francis Gerard (2022) A. J. Cronin’s career and fiction with specific reference The Citadel and the context of the foundation of the National Health Service. MPhil(R) thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

Dr A. J. Cronin practised medicine for eleven years before becoming a highly successful novelist, authoring twenty-five novels, the most widely read and influential being The Citadel (1937). This novel charts the medical career of a young recently qualified doctor and weaves a number of key aspects of medical care through an absorbing storyline. It also highlights deficiencies in the care of patients, variable standards of health care based on social status and inadequate postgraduate training. The influence of The Citadel on the founding of the National Health service (NHS) has been the subject of debate for many years. Cronin spent three years in the South Wales town of Tredegar which had an impressive Medical Aid Society. Aneurin Bevan, who was to become the architect of the NHS, lived at that time in Tredegar and was involved in the Society. Cronin’s writings and putative link to Bevan support the widely held view that The Citadel was a catalyst for the foundation of the NHS, one of the key societal events of the twentieth century in the UK. This thesis will explore how Cronin’s personal views and authorial opinions expressed specifically in The Citadel but also in his other writings impacted on the founding of the NHS.

• Item Type: Thesis (MPhil(R))
• Qualification Level: Masters
• Subjects: D History General and Old World > DA Great Britain; P Language and Literature > PR English literature; R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine
• Colleges/Schools: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Critical Studies > Scottish Literature
• Supervisor's Name: Carruthers, Professor Gerard and McCue, Professor Kirsteen
• Date of Award: 2022
• Depositing User: Theses Team
• Unique ID: glathesis:2022-82869
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 13 May 2022 08:53
• Last Modified: 17 May 2022 11:07
• Thesis DOI: 10.5525/gla.thesis.82869
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/82869