ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the representation of medical practitioners in fiction, encompassing classic and contemporary literature. Archibald Joseph (AJ) Cronin wrote The Citadel in 1937, barely two years before the outbreak of World War II, yet it belongs to a bygone era when the prevailing writer's mission was to draw the line between good and evil, between the noble and despicable. The novel, however, exposed the inequity and incompetence of the medical profession and made a big impact on the society of Great Britain. The Citadel's hero, reminiscent of Martin Arrowsmith in the novel by Sinclair Lewis, is Dr. Andrew Manson. Andrew overcomes his initial feelings of inadequacy when he makes a series of correct diagnoses while witnessing the incompetence of some of his older colleagues. By 1927 Andrew finishes his research, which shows plain evidence of the marked preponderance of lung disease among the anthracite workers.
