Shadows of the self: Trauma, memory, and place in twentieth-century American fiction.

摘要

Drawing from contemporary American novels and psychology studies, I challenge the notion that trauma "shatters" identity and meaning. I argue instead that traumatic events in the novels of my study produce new forms of knowledge that in turn demand innovative narrative strategies for expression. The novels of Leslie Marmon Silko, Lan Cao, Toni Morrison, and Edward Abbey employ a non-pathologic paradigm to present trauma as an experience situated within a cultural context that reformulates identity, rather than as an isolated incident in which the self is destroyed. Moreover, cultural traditions and gender conventions within the ethnic community of the protagonist help shape the understanding and expression of trauma. My formal concerns with trauma are approached by focusing on the place or geographic location of trauma. More than a metaphor, the physical environment marks the boundaries between the traumatic past and present reality, and functions as a referent for identity. Place therefore is a significant character in each novel, for it is the geographic location and historical moment that merge to define trauma's impact.