Trauma and the (Im)Possibility of Representation: Patrick McGrath’s Trauma
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
Abstract: The present paper explores the notion of trauma as the epitome of the postmodern crises of representation and communication. Through the example of Patrick McGrath’s novel Trauma (2008), the trauma phenomenon will be scrutinized as thematic and aesthetic paradigm of contemporary literature. A close reading of McGrath’s novel shall elucidate trauma’s paradoxical structure of presence and absence, i.e. its call for articulation and simultaneous representational elusiveness. Special attention will be given to the narrative techniques and stylistic devices the text employs to give (an aesthetic) voice to the unspeakable. Abstracting from the results of these analyses, an aesthetics of the unrepresentable will be elaborated in the final section of the paper.
Downloads
Article Details
An open-access CREATIVE COMMONS copyright license is used. Those authors whose works are published by this journal, accept the following terms:
- Authors will retain their copyright and guarantee the Journal the right to first publish their work, which will simultaneously be subject to the Creative Commons Recognition License CC BY SA that allows third parties to share the work, provided that its author and first publication is indicated.
- Authors may adopt other non-exclusive license agreements for the distribution of the published version of the work (e.g., deposit it in an institutional telematics file or publish it in a monographic volume) provided that the initial publication in this journal is indicated.
- Authors are allowed and recommended to disseminate their work over the Internet (e.g. in institutional telematics files or on their website) before and during the submission process, which can produce interesting exchanges and increase quotes of the published work.