{"id":201,"date":"2022-01-05T12:10:07","date_gmt":"2022-01-05T12:10:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.napier.ac.uk\/english\/?p=201"},"modified":"2022-01-05T12:10:07","modified_gmt":"2022-01-05T12:10:07","slug":"walter-owens-hallucinatory-the-cross-of-carl-1931","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.napier.ac.uk\/english\/walter-owens-hallucinatory-the-cross-of-carl-1931\/","title":{"rendered":"Walter Owen’s hallucinatory The Cross of Carl (1931)"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Scottish author and translator Walter Owen was not permitted to join the army during the First World War due to a painful physical illness which he self-medicated with opium. During one of these episodes, Owen had an out-of-body experience which transplanted him into the mind and body of a soldier on the Western Front. <\/span>The Cross of Carl<\/span><\/i> is his record of what he <\/span>experienced. It was written in one night in 1917 whilst Owen was hospitalised for his illness. It was accepted for publication but was then refused by censors as anti-war propaganda for its brutal and gruesome depictions of the Western Front. In 1931, as the disenchanted view of the First World War became more and more prevalent among the slew of books that appeared in the War Books Boom, it was finally published.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The long, descriptive subtitle calls the novel \u2018<\/span>An <\/span>allegory; The story of one who went down into the depths and was buried; who, doubting much, yet at the last lifted up his eyes unto the hills and rose again and was transfigured.\u2019 The novel uses religious allegories to structure its narrative: the four chapters are titled after the stages of the Passion of Jesus,<\/span> ‘Gethsemane,’ ‘Golgotha,’ ‘Sepulture’ and <\/span>\u2018<\/span>Resurrection.<\/span>\u2019 The nationality of the soldier protagonist is not explicitly stated in the novel, suggesting that all soldiers in the conflict are subject to the same processes, that there is not inherent enmity between the enlisted men on either side. The plot follows this soldier, Carl, as he goes over the top in an attack.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Carl is injured in the attack; he passes out as a consequence and is mistaken for a corpse. He is then transported to factory where soldiers\u2019 bodies are used as ‘pig-food, fats, glycerin and manure’ (Owen, 1931, p. 11).\u00a0 This reiterates a notorious example of atrocity propaganda which circulated during the War. Once awake, Carl escapes from the factory but is driven into a psychotic episode, and subsequently digs his own grave and lies in it. He becomes possessed by a prophetic voice. Two generals come upon him\u202fand carry him out of his grave, only to then shoot him due to his prophetic ramblings and his denunciation of them as minions of Mammon (Owen, 1931, p. 10, p. 16). This suggests that Carl views the conflict as a war of capital ordered by class structures.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

L.A.G. Strong, reviewing for <\/span>The Spectator<\/span><\/i> (1931, p. 1022) <\/span>named Owen\u2019s novel \u2018the most appallingly vivid narrative [they] have ever read.\u2019 In the preface, General Sir Ian Hamilton calls it a \u2018book of ghouls, ghosts, and nightmares.\u2019 Owen combines the supernatural with a brutally realistic narrative of the war, and it has been categorised both as gothic and science fiction.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Beth Campbell<\/p>\n

(with edits by Andrew Frayn)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Bibliography<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Owen, Walter (1931).\u00a0 <\/span>The Cross of Carl: an allegory; the story of one who went down into the depths and was buried; who, doubting much, yet at the last lifted up his eyes unto the hills and rose again and was transfigured<\/span><\/i>. London: Grant Richards.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Strong, L.A.G. (1931). \u2018Review of <\/span>The Phoenix-Kind<\/span><\/i> by Peter Quennell, <\/span>The Thief<\/span><\/i> by Leonid Leonov, <\/span>Buttercups and Daisies<\/span><\/i> by Compton Mackenzie, <\/span>The Cross of Carl<\/span><\/i> by Walter Owen.\u2019\u00a0 <\/span>Spectator<\/span><\/i>, vol. 146, iss. 5374 (27 June 1931), 1020-22 <https:\/\/www.proquest.com\/docview\/1295534434> [accessed 4 Nov 2021].<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Note on funding<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This blog is part of a research project on The War Books Boom, 1928-30 led by Andrew Frayn.\u00a0 This was partly funded by Edinburgh Napier University, and funding for a cognate project came from the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland. Beth Campbell\u2019s work on this as an intern was funded by the Centre for Literature and Writing at ENU.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Project twitter account: <\/span>https:\/\/twitter.com\/warbooksboom<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Scottish author and translator Walter Owen was not permitted to join the army during the First World War due to a painful physical illness which he self-medicated with opium. During one of these episodes, Owen had an out-of-body experience which transplanted him into the mind and body of a soldier on the Western Front. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","post-preview"],"yoast_head":"\nWalter Owen's hallucinatory The Cross of Carl (1931) - English at Edinburgh Napier University<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.napier.ac.uk\/english\/walter-owens-hallucinatory-the-cross-of-carl-1931\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Walter Owen's hallucinatory The Cross of Carl (1931) - English at Edinburgh Napier University\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Scottish author and translator Walter Owen was not permitted to join the army during the First World War due to a painful physical illness which he self-medicated with opium. During one of these episodes, Owen had an out-of-body experience which transplanted him into the mind and body of a soldier on the Western Front. […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.napier.ac.uk\/english\/walter-owens-hallucinatory-the-cross-of-carl-1931\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"English at Edinburgh Napier University\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-01-05T12:10:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Andrew Frayn\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@afrayn\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Andrew Frayn\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.napier.ac.uk\\\/english\\\/walter-owens-hallucinatory-the-cross-of-carl-1931\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.napier.ac.uk\\\/english\\\/walter-owens-hallucinatory-the-cross-of-carl-1931\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Andrew Frayn\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.napier.ac.uk\\\/english\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8b58acba64d9cfda4dc9acb948b90f14\"},\"headline\":\"Walter Owen’s hallucinatory The Cross of Carl (1931)\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-01-05T12:10:07+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.napier.ac.uk\\\/english\\\/walter-owens-hallucinatory-the-cross-of-carl-1931\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":626,\"commentCount\":0,\"articleSection\":[\"Uncategorized\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.napier.ac.uk\\\/english\\\/walter-owens-hallucinatory-the-cross-of-carl-1931\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.napier.ac.uk\\\/english\\\/walter-owens-hallucinatory-the-cross-of-carl-1931\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.napier.ac.uk\\\/english\\\/walter-owens-hallucinatory-the-cross-of-carl-1931\\\/\",\"name\":\"Walter Owen's hallucinatory The Cross of Carl (1931) - English at Edinburgh Napier University\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.napier.ac.uk\\\/english\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-01-05T12:10:07+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.napier.ac.uk\\\/english\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8b58acba64d9cfda4dc9acb948b90f14\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.napier.ac.uk\\\/english\\\/walter-owens-hallucinatory-the-cross-of-carl-1931\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.napier.ac.uk\\\/english\\\/walter-owens-hallucinatory-the-cross-of-carl-1931\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.napier.ac.uk\\\/english\\\/walter-owens-hallucinatory-the-cross-of-carl-1931\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.napier.ac.uk\\\/english\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Walter Owen’s hallucinatory The Cross of Carl (1931)\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.napier.ac.uk\\\/english\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.napier.ac.uk\\\/english\\\/\",\"name\":\"English at Edinburgh Napier University\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.napier.ac.uk\\\/english\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.napier.ac.uk\\\/english\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8b58acba64d9cfda4dc9acb948b90f14\",\"name\":\"Andrew Frayn\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/acb524b8578d0b705481bca126e77cfdc3cfdb54ebd65935e5bfe70ee53f220c?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/acb524b8578d0b705481bca126e77cfdc3cfdb54ebd65935e5bfe70ee53f220c?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/acb524b8578d0b705481bca126e77cfdc3cfdb54ebd65935e5bfe70ee53f220c?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Andrew Frayn\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/afrayn\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.napier.ac.uk\\\/english\\\/author\\\/andrewfrayn\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Walter Owen's hallucinatory The Cross of Carl (1931) - English at Edinburgh Napier University","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blogs.napier.ac.uk\/english\/walter-owens-hallucinatory-the-cross-of-carl-1931\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Walter Owen's hallucinatory The Cross of Carl (1931) - English at Edinburgh Napier University","og_description":"The Scottish author and translator Walter Owen was not permitted to join the army during the First World War due to a painful physical illness which he self-medicated with opium. During one of these episodes, Owen had an out-of-body experience which transplanted him into the mind and body of a soldier on the Western Front. […]","og_url":"https:\/\/blogs.napier.ac.uk\/english\/walter-owens-hallucinatory-the-cross-of-carl-1931\/","og_site_name":"English at Edinburgh Napier University","article_published_time":"2022-01-05T12:10:07+00:00","author":"Andrew Frayn","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@afrayn","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Andrew Frayn","Estimated reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.napier.ac.uk\/english\/walter-owens-hallucinatory-the-cross-of-carl-1931\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.napier.ac.uk\/english\/walter-owens-hallucinatory-the-cross-of-carl-1931\/"},"author":{"name":"Andrew Frayn","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.napier.ac.uk\/english\/#\/schema\/person\/8b58acba64d9cfda4dc9acb948b90f14"},"headline":"Walter Owen’s hallucinatory The Cross of Carl (1931)","datePublished":"2022-01-05T12:10:07+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.napier.ac.uk\/english\/walter-owens-hallucinatory-the-cross-of-carl-1931\/"},"wordCount":626,"commentCount":0,"articleSection":["Uncategorized"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/blogs.napier.ac.uk\/english\/walter-owens-hallucinatory-the-cross-of-carl-1931\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.napier.ac.uk\/english\/walter-owens-hallucinatory-the-cross-of-carl-1931\/","url":"https:\/\/blogs.napier.ac.uk\/english\/walter-owens-hallucinatory-the-cross-of-carl-1931\/","name":"Walter Owen's hallucinatory The Cross of Carl (1931) - English at Edinburgh Napier University","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.napier.ac.uk\/english\/#website"},"datePublished":"2022-01-05T12:10:07+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.napier.ac.uk\/english\/#\/schema\/person\/8b58acba64d9cfda4dc9acb948b90f14"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.napier.ac.uk\/english\/walter-owens-hallucinatory-the-cross-of-carl-1931\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blogs.napier.ac.uk\/english\/walter-owens-hallucinatory-the-cross-of-carl-1931\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.napier.ac.uk\/english\/walter-owens-hallucinatory-the-cross-of-carl-1931\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blogs.napier.ac.uk\/english\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Walter Owen’s hallucinatory The Cross of Carl (1931)"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.napier.ac.uk\/english\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blogs.napier.ac.uk\/english\/","name":"English at Edinburgh Napier University","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blogs.napier.ac.uk\/english\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.napier.ac.uk\/english\/#\/schema\/person\/8b58acba64d9cfda4dc9acb948b90f14","name":"Andrew Frayn","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/acb524b8578d0b705481bca126e77cfdc3cfdb54ebd65935e5bfe70ee53f220c?s=96&d=blank&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/acb524b8578d0b705481bca126e77cfdc3cfdb54ebd65935e5bfe70ee53f220c?s=96&d=blank&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/acb524b8578d0b705481bca126e77cfdc3cfdb54ebd65935e5bfe70ee53f220c?s=96&d=blank&r=g","caption":"Andrew Frayn"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/afrayn"],"url":"https:\/\/blogs.napier.ac.uk\/english\/author\/andrewfrayn\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.napier.ac.uk\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.napier.ac.uk\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.napier.ac.uk\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.napier.ac.uk\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.napier.ac.uk\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.napier.ac.uk\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":202,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.napier.ac.uk\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201\/revisions\/202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.napier.ac.uk\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.napier.ac.uk\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.napier.ac.uk\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}