TY - JOUR T1 - Shame-to-cynicism conversion in <em>The Citadel</em> and <em>The House of God</em> JF - Medical Humanities JO - J Med Humanit SP - 219 LP - 227 DO - 10.1136/medhum-2020-011882 VL - 47 IS - 2 AU - Arthur Rose Y1 - 2021/06/01 UR - http://mh.bmj.com/content/47/2/219.abstract N2 - This article considers the dynamics of shame and cynicism in A J Cronin’s The Citadel (1937) and Samuel Shem’s The House of God (1978). The protagonists of both novels are forced into shameful situations. Their response to these situations is increased cynicism. This results in a feedback loop: cynicism begets shame, which, in turn, causes more cynicism. Drawing on Bonnie Mann’s work on shame-to-power conversion, the article suggests that the novels stage a shame-to-cynicism conversion, which anticipates possible links between cynicism and shame in medical education. The overwhelming success of both novels in shaping the popular imaginary of healthcare professionals means that this dynamic, far from being isolated to the novels, might speak to shared concerns in the education scholarship.Data sharing not applicable as no data sets generated and/or analysed for this study. ER -