Contemporary American Trauma Narratives

What is it about?

This book examines the way American writers present the effects of trauma in their work. Trauma has become an important and influential paradigm for reading contemporary American literature. Too often, however, criticism has adopted narrow models of trauma, resulting in increasingly formulaic and clichéd interpretations. This study understands trauma on a wider basis than Freudian psychoanalysis, incorporating theories drawn from fields including narratology, in order to analyse devices characteristically employed by writers in order to represent and, often, to mimic the effects of trauma. The study also focuses on important issues often overlooked by conventional analyses of trauma, such as the characteristics and effects of perpetrator narratives. The book explores narrative devices and innovations, such as metafiction, as well as events in contemporary America, including 9/11, the Iraq War, and reactions to the Bush administration. American authors discussed in depth include Joseph Heller, Kurt Vonnegut, Toni Morrison, Tim O’Brien, Mark Danielewski, Art Spiegelman, Jonathan Safran Foer, Anthony Swofford, Joel Tunipseed, Evan Wright, Kayla Williams, Paul Auster, Philip Roth, and Michael Chabon.

Featured Image

Why is it important?

Contemporary American Trauma Narratives offers a timely and dissenting intervention into debates about American writers’ depiction of trauma and its consequences. Too often, criticism has adopted narrow models of trauma, resulting in increasingly formulaic interpretations. This study incorporates theories drawn from a wider field, in order to analyse formal effects characteristically employed by writers to represent and/or mimic trauma. The study also focuses on important issues often overlooked by conventional analyses of trauma, such as the characteristics and effects of perpetrator narratives.