The Citadel (novel)

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This article is about the 1937 novel. For the film, see The Citadel (film). For the television adaptations, see The Citadel (television).


The Citadel
Author A. J. Cronin
Country Flag of the United Kingdom United Kingdom
Language English
Genre(s) Novel
Publisher Gollancz Flag of the United Kingdom United Kingdom
Little, Brown Flag of the United States United States
Publication date 1937
Media type Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages 446 p. (UK hardback edition)
ISBN ISBN 0-450-01041-4

The Citadel is a novel by A. J. Cronin, first published in 1937, which was groundbreaking with its treatment of the contentious theme of medical ethics. It is credited with laying the foundation in Great Britain for the introduction of the NHS a decade later. For his fifth book, Dr. Cronin drew on his experiences practicing medicine in the coal mining communities of the South Wales Valleys, specifically the town of Tredegar, where he had researched and published reports on the correlation between coal dust inhalation and lung disease. Additionally, he worked as a doctor for the Tredegar Medical Aid Society at the Cottage Hospital, which served as the model for the National Health Service. Cronin once stated in an interview, "I have written in The Citadel all I feel about the medical profession, its injustices, its hide-bound unscientific stubbornness, its humbug ... The horrors and inequities detailed in the story I have personally witnessed. This is not an attack against individuals, but against a system." The novel was made into a 1938 film with Robert Donat, Ralph Richardson and Rex Harrison, with at least one American (1960) and another BBC television adaptation (1983) starring Ben Cross.

[edit] Plot summary

Hippocrates conquers hypocrisy in this story of an idealistic young doctor, Andrew Manson, whose first job is working for an older doctor in 'Drineffy,' a small town in the Welsh mountains. Shocked by the conditions there, he works to improve matters before marrying Christine, a school teacher. They move to 'Aberalaw', a mining town in the Welsh valleys, where she helps Manson with his silicosis research. The couple later moves to London, where Manson works for a government department before going into private practice.

Seduced by the thought of easy money from wealthy clients rather than the good works that he originally set out to, Manson becomes involved with pampered private patients and fashionable surgeons, until a patient dies due to a surgeon's ineptitude. When Manson accuses the surgeon of murder, he is vindictively reported to the General Medical Council for having worked with a nature cure practitioner, even though the patient had been successfully treated.

Christine is tragically killed in a road accident, but Manson manages to justify his actions satisfactorily during the hearing and is not struck off the register. He finally decides to join two friends in opening an integrated, multispecialty practice in a country town.

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Works by A. J. Cronin
Novels
Hatter's Castle • Three Loves • Grand Canary • The Stars Look Down • The Citadel • The Keys of the Kingdom • The Green Years • Shannon's Way • The Spanish Gardener • The Valorous Years • Beyond This Place • A Thing of Beauty/Crusader's Tomb • The Northern Light • The Native Doctor/An Apple in Eden • The Judas Tree • A Song of Sixpence • A Pocketful of Rye • The Minstrel Boy/Desmonde • Lady with Carnations • Gracie Lindsay
Selected Short Stories
& Story Collections
"Kaleidoscope in 'K'" • Country Doctor (novella) • "Vigil in the Night" • Adventures of a Black Bag • The Innkeeper's Wife • Further Adventures of a Black Bag • Doctor Finlay of Tannochbrae
Play
Autobiography
UK/US Film &
Television Adaptations
Languages