A shattered visage: the remythologizing of the British literary hero after World War I

Heroes have always been a part of national culture. They have slain real and metaphorical dragons and provided the populace with models to emulate and admire. However, there is a dark side to this hero worship. While heroes are a necessary and desirable aspect of any culture, their influence can sometimes prove damaging because their model is unrealistic and when people fall short of that model, disillusionment, sometimes on a grand scale, can occur.