Trauma and narrative : an exploration of figurative representations of pain in twentieth century literature

Abstract: A central claim of contemporary trauma theory stresses that terrifying experiences cause a speechless fright that cannot be fully articulated afterwards. This thesis conducts a close analysis of representations of trauma in five twentieth century novels: Mikhail Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita (written 1928-40, published 1965, Russia), Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye (1970, USA), Gina B. Nahai’s Moonlight on the Avenue of Faith (1999, Iran), Damon Galgut’s The Beautiful Screaming of Pigs (1991, South Africa), and Pak Wanseo’s Three Days in that Autumn (1985, South Korea). The objective of this analysis is to cross the boundaries of languages and nations as well as those of literary and cultural traditions to excavate literary devices, in particular, metaphoric images, which give some expression to individual traumatic experience through a visual mode. Missing buttons, rose petals, a giant squid, blue eyes, a flying body, corpses, bleak landscapes and a strange chair allow secret, pockets of pain to be made more accessible. The theoretical framework of this study is drawn from trauma theory, psychoanalysis and literary fiction that consider the effect of trauma on narrative. By drawing on these theories, I argue that the relationship between images in the chosen novels and trauma is paradoxical: metaphor is a useful tool for approximating traumatic experience, but, simultaneously, draws attention to its own limitations. Several characters in the novels endure compulsive re-experiencing of the past as their suffering seems not sufficiently accessible in language in a controlled, self-reflexive manner. The psychological effects of their trauma manifest in various flashbacks, dreams, images and syntactic patterns embedded within the narratives that repetitively bear witness to some earlier exposure to violence. This study explores the form and language of these narratives which offer unique, visual representations of disturbing and painful elements that would otherwise remain unrepresentable. My intention is to open up an inquiry into the relationship between literary imagination and the survival of an ordeal by considering fictional traumatic representations from diverse cultures within convulsive historic periods.D.Litt. et Phil. (English