Tue, 25 Sep 2007
Going to war and coming home
Dr Jonathan Shay of Boston has won one of this year's Macarthur prizes for his work with American veterans - using Homer's stories of war and homecoming to treat soldiers who fought in Vietnam. From the Boston Globe (registration required):
When Boston psychiatrist Jonathan Shay wanted to understand the psychological toll of the Vietnam War on the veterans he treated, he turned to the "Iliad" and the "Odyssey." The classical Greek epics perfectly encapsulate the mental damage of combat, said Shay, who works for the Department of Veterans Affairs in Boston.
Online: Achilles in Vietnam: Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Character; Odysseus in America: Combat Trauma and the Trials of Homecoming; NYT, 2003; Hellenic Communication Service, 2003.
posted by Bill White at 13:40 | permalink | email me | | |
