Unspeakable: Narratives of Trauma

How does a trauma survivor communicate «what can't be said out loud» to others? In what form? How can we - readers, listeners, viewers - recognize the pain and suffering hidden behind words, pictures, or other artifacts produced by trauma survivors? This volume presents a possible response by bringing together the «expressions of the unspeakable» by trauma survivors and the interpretation of researchers in various fields, i.e. clinical psychologists, linguists, anthropologists, literary and film scholars, historians, and visual artists, some of whom are survivors of trauma. By describing or analyzing different strategies for finding a narrative form for expressing the survivor's trauma, the contributors offer not only insights into how the survivors dealt with the pain of traumatic memories but also how they were able to find hope for healing by telling their stories, in literature, graphic novels, visual art or simply by creating a personal narrative in their own voice.

Contents: Magda Stroinska/Kate Szymanski/Vikki Cecchetto: Introduction: We need to talk about trauma - Xavier Martin: France in Shock from its Revolution - Jakub Kazecki: The Functions of Humor and Laughter in Narrating Trauma in German Literature of the First World War - Bozena Karwowska: The Human Body in Nazi Concentration Camps: The Case of Stanislaw Grzesiuk - Tessa Lunney: Traumatic Silences in Contemporary Australian War Fiction - Lieve Spaas: A Trauma in Hiding: The Case of Jules Marchal - Barbara Chettle: The Trauma of Culture Shock - Kebedech Tekleab: Exploring the Edge of Trauma: The Differing Dynamics of Tragedy and Sublime - Leena Kurvet-Käosaar: Creating a Habitable Everyday in Estonian Women's Diaries of the Repressions of the Stalinist Regime - Irena RadiSevic: Trauma in Words: Comparison of the Coverage in Le Devoir and the Toronto Star of the 2010 Haitian Earthquake - Magda Stroinska: Metaphors we li(v)e by: Disease as a Conceptual Metaphor for Sexual Assault - Sarah Lightman: Metamorphosing Difficulties: The Portrayal of Trauma in Autobiographical Comics - Avi Sanders/Kate Szymanski: Having a Relative with Mental Illness: Beyond the Traditional Definition of Trauma - Avigail Gordon/Kate Szymanski: Breaking the Silence: Reevaluating What Makes an Experience a Trauma - Kate Szymanski/Nancy Rosenfeld: Trauma Narrative: Recovery and Posttraumatic Growth - A Clinical Perspective.