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Degree

Master of Arts, Miami University, French, 2009.

Abstract

Trauma theory has grown into a widely used theoretical model for understanding and treating victims of psychological trauma. The aim of this paper is to examine different literary and cinematic representations of trauma in an attempt to understand why testimony is seen as imperative to working through such experience. I also endeavor to show how psychological trauma is riddled with complexities and how successful testimony, according to the psychoanalytic model, does not always guarantee success in working through. In the course of this study, I consider Honoré de Balzac’s Adieu, Philippe Claudel’s Il y a longtemps que je t’aime, Soazig Aaron’s Le non de Klara, and Charlotte Delbo’s Auschwitz et après.

Subject Headings

Literature; Philosophy

Keywords

trauma theory; Freud; Dominick LaCapra; Balzac; Charlotte Delbo; Holocaust; Soazig Aaron; Philippe Claudel; acting out; working through

Committee / Advisors

James Creech, PhD (Advisor)
Claire Goldstein, PhD (Committee Member)
Anna Klosowska, PhD (Committee Member)

Pages

57p.

Document number: miami1249779135
Permalink: http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1249779135

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