Nurses at the Front: Writing the Wounds of the Great War

by Margaret R. Higonnet (Editor)

Ellen N. La Motte (1873-1961) and Mary Borden (1886-1968) are two of the best known American nurses who wrote about their experiences working in the same field hospital on the Western Front during World War I. La Motte's The Backwash of War (1916) and Borden's The Forbidden Zone (1929) present in powerful, vivid, and often haunting prose each woman's acute observations of the stark realities of battle and the severe conditions under which military medicine is practiced.

Now representative selections from these classic texts are published for the first time in one volume. Linked by parallel themes and narrative approaches, the episodes recounted by La Motte and Borden expose the intense, horrific world of the surgical wards and operating rooms. Revealing the moral dilemmas faced by those who make decisions about the lives and deaths of soldiers, they describe the ethical contradictions of saving men who will return to the trenches to kill or be killed. Written from the perspective of both observer and actor, these compelling sketches often shift from shocking realism to irony, as they invite the reader to enter the nurses' harsh world and to understand their professional and personal struggles. In addition, the depictions of men's suffering challenge institutional indifference to the human costs of war.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, World War I, Memoir, Grad School

161 pages, Paperback

Published April 19, 2001

Reviews

[Ginger Monette · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was not what I expected. I was expecting more of a diary/memoirs type book. But this was much more philosophical. And at times, it felt like an intentional counter to propaganda.

It was dark. Very dark. I read this on the heels of having read Dorothea's War, a diary of a VAD who served all four years on the French Coast. She was generally upbeat, spoke of how kind and generally cheerful the men were, and never dwelt on the horrors.

This book was just the opposite. It magnified the pain, tragedy, futility of war. Granted, the imagery was brilliant and moving at times, but all very dark--as if no one ever had any kind of 'happily ever after' after the war. One would almost assume every soldier that passed through the doors of this field hospital either died or was maimed.

This quick read had a pretty amazing account of spiritual warfare, and the last 'essay', Blind, was chocked full of details about the roles of orderlies, a good description of the layout of the field hospital's reception area/operating rooms, and what it was like during a rush of wounded. Because I am doing research, that was particularly helpful.

If you are looking for a daily account of a WW1 front line medical unit, this is probably not the best source. However, if you are looking for grim realities or philosophical arguments against war communicated through events wrapped in well-chosen metaphors, imagery, and sarcasm, this is outstanding.

[Anson Cassel Mills · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are some moving selections among the nineteen pieces chosen by the editor, many well worth reading. (My favorite is “Enfant de Malheur.”) Nevertheless, Higonnet only provides us with the literary contributions of two upper-class Americans who knew each other, nursed French and Belgian troops in the same hospital, and emphatically stressed the ugliness of war. I have no problem acknowledging the ugliness of war, but other contemporary nurses expressed different views, less acceptable in the 21st century for the very reason that these other authors were not, as were Ellen La Motte and Mary Borden, “unflinching” and “painfully frank.”

[Micebyliz]

Finished last night with a sigh of relief. It was a very difficult read even though most of my reading is the most difficult of subjects. go figure. There is something about WWI that i have not yet inured myself enough to or have yet absorbed the impact? i don't know. i have read Vera Brittain and Paul Fussell and Remarque (more besides the famous)--shouldn't that be a good foundation? but no. i have to read more.
This book does not hold back. It is stark and honest. You brace yourself and you read.

[Susan Liston · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't realize until I finished this that the two books included, The Backwash of War and The Forbidden Zone, are not complete, they are just excerpts here. But both of them were incredible and I will be reading them in full. It's getting harder and harder to make sour old me cry, but this did it.

[Patty V. Campbell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book should come with a warning: not to be read by the faint at heart. The first-person accounts of two Americans, nurse Ellen Newbold La Motte and fashionable hostess-turned-nurse Mary Borden, telling of their experiences in a field hospital in Belgium (before the USA entered the war) are harrowing and though beautifully written, often difficult to read. The book contains edited selections from La Motte's book, The Backlash of War, and Borden's book, The Forbidden Zone.

One could make an argument that this book, with its depiction of what ultimately is presented as useless but horrific suffering, all in the name of war, should be required reading for everyone, even today. It's very tough, perhaps made tougher by being beautifully crafted to a finely honed point that penetrates the heart, and very powerful.

[Annette · Rating 5 out of 5]

The editor Margaret R. Higonnet writes a long introduction that prepares the reader for the memoirs that were written by 2 nurses that served during the early years of World War I. These women were Ellen N. La Motte and Mary Borden. Margaret states that even before the United States joined the war (Spring 1917) there were as many as 25,000 American women serving as volunteers. Each of them joined in order to serve their country. Many of them wanted to be at the Front lines in order to help. They were "as eager to get to the Front as any Boy." The only way to be at the Front was as a nurse.
Mary Borden (1886-1968)was an American, wealthy, and had been educated at Vassar College. She'd married an English Captain. She had children that she left behind in England in order to serve because, "she signed up with the French Red Cross."
Ellen Newbold La Motte (1873-1961) also an American, was an experienced nurse from Baltimore. Upon arriving in Europe she first worked at an American hospital in Paris. Soon afterwards she joined Borden in a, "frontline surgical unit that Borden had established under French military command in the Belgian zone."
La Motte wrote The Backwash of War in 1916, includes 9 stories as well as a short introduction.
Borden wrote The Forbidden Zone 1929, also with 9 stories and a preface.
Included is a French glossary of common words throughout the stories.

La Motte begins by describing the war as, "months of boredom, punctuated by moments of intense fright." "The Front line has not moved," "the air is stagnant" and "with much ugliness." It is with these opening lines that the reader is thrust behind the curtain so to speak, of war and its aftermath. It is in its aftermath that nurses and surgeons care for the wounded.
The wards are full of men whose bandaged--broken--limbs missing-- bloody--screaming in agony--bodies lie in wait. It is the carnal damage of what shrapnel and exploding bombs and poisonous gas does to a frail human body.
La Motte and Borden both write of soldier's who wished to take their own lives, they tried, and were left grossly and painfully disfigured.
In another story a patient with gas gangrene---the foul stench that "swirled round him."
There is the heart-breaking story of a young boy, and whose mother does not seem to care.
There were several pages that were written as movingly as poetry, and because poetry must be read a loud, I read these pages aloud. Their haunting punctuating words reverberated not only in my mind but throughout the room.
Some of the descriptions are dizzyingly macabre. I wanted to gasp, and probably did.

This is a MUST read for anyone wanting to read on the subject of World War I, nursing, or medicine during the early 20th century.

I'll not forget this book, it is more than memorable.

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this for research purposes and it was both fascinating and amazing. Basically composed of the writings of two WWI nurses, Ellen La Motte and Mary Borden.

While both women give accounts of nursing during the Great War, this book earned 4 stars for Mary Borden's writing. I have never read accounts so beautiful, or poetic, and yet so harrowing and tragically sad about this war as Borden's. The essay 'Blind' is just one example. It is on a par with the poems of Owen and Sassoon. Borden was a poet too, and it comes through in her writing. Her book, 'The Forbidden Zone' was on my list, but has jumped up closer to the top now.

What is more tragic is that even today young men are still left terribly wounded by war.

[Kat · Rating 4 out of 5]

An anthology of writing by Ellen LaMotte and Mary Borden who both served in hospitals in Belgium during WWI. The introduction sketches the two women's connection and some of the circumstances surrounding the service of women near the front lines. Since the book isn't meant to be a historical overview of the topic, it is a short overview. The excerpts from La Motte and Borden were thoughtfully chosen.

[Linda Andrews · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a combination of 2 books The Backwash of War and the Forbidden Zone, both were written by American women who nursed the French and occasionally Belgian Armies. The books are far from the usual propaganda about the war, in fact the editor says both were banned because of their frank talk about the casualties and the behaviors of the men. The language is brilliant and the imagery vivid making for many captivating vignettes.

[Christiana · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent compilation of memoirs by two WWI nurses, edited by my brilliant professor. I particularly liked Mary Borden's segments, which were more artistically written and less cold (though no less grim) than Ellen LaMotte's account. Don't read if you aren't prepared for some horrific descriptions of wounds.

Read for my WWI Literature class.

[Carla · Rating 3 out of 5]

After reading the fictionalized account of a woman who had been a nurse on the Western front, I decided to find some first hand accounts

[Liz McKenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a really beautiful exploration of World War I. I loved the language, loved the imagery. I highly recommend it!

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Worth it for the introduction by Margaret Higonnet.