Mental Health and Trauma in 19th-Century to TRAUMA AND THE SOLDIER’S MIND: PTSD IN TOLSTOY’S WAR AND PEACE AND CRANE’S THE RED BADGE OF COURAGEWar Literature

Abstract

Although post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was not formally recognized until the 20th century, 19th-century war literature anticipated its psychological manifestations through vivid portrayals of fear, dissociation, and alienation. This study examines the representation of trauma in Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace (1869) and Stephen Crane’s The Red Badge of Courage (1895), exploring how both texts intuitively depicted the psychological consequences of combat in the absence of clinical vocabulary. Drawing upon trauma theory (Caruth, Herman, LaCapra), this research employs a qualitative textual analysis to investigate key scenes that reveal symptoms resembling PTSD, including emotional numbness, dissociation, and existential despair. The comparative analysis highlights how Tolstoy’s psychological realism emphasizes alienation and philosophical rupture, while Crane’s impressionistic style foregrounds fear, shame, and psychological collapse. By situating these works within the broader discourse on trauma and war literature, this article demonstrates the enduring significance of 19th-century literary texts in anticipating modern understandings of psychological trauma.