Article: "The (Revised) Clinical Imagination: An Unpublished Appendix to 'The Problem of Pain'"

My original research article, “The (Revised) Clinical Imagination: An Unpublished Appendix to The Problem of Pain” appeared in volume 36 (2019) of VII: Journal of the Marion E. Wade Center. The full text of the paper can be found here.


From the abstract: “Robert Havard was a medical doctor and a little-known Inkling who, at Lewis’s invitation, wrote an appendix to The Problem of Pain. Lewis revised the resulting document extensively before publication. An examination of the unpublished version provides both a window into the workings of the Inklings, and insight into the humility and complexity of Havard's medical practice. This is particularly evident in Havard’s discussion of mental illness: in contrast to the brief and almost flippant tone of the published version, the first draft paints a poignant picture of mental suffering and confesses the limits of the clinician’s knowledge. Sarah O’Dell speculates on the reasons for the far-reaching revisions, exploring the place of mental pain in Lewis’s theodicy, Lewis’s own experience as a caretaker for a man going mad, and instances of madness in Lewis’s fiction.”



My paper was accompanied by a reproduction of R.E. Havard’s unpublished draft, further illuminating the differences between Lewis’s “Appendix” and Havard’s original "Pain and Behaviour in Medical Practice."