by Barbara Braid
Presented at the internationa conference: "Who is ´us` and who is ´them´ after 9/11 – Reflections on Language, Culture and Literature in Times of Ideological Clashes” in Szczecin, Poland 21-23 September 2011
Among various theoretical approaches towards relatively innovative genre of the neo-Victorian novel is trauma theory.... more
Among various theoretical approaches towards relatively innovative genre of the neo-Victorian novel is trauma theory. As Marie-Louise Kohlke have noticed, neo-Victorian is a post-traumatic genre, which might be perceived as an attempt to relive the nineteenth century traumas as a means to work through them. These traumas can be both personal, such as “disease, crime and sexual exploitation” as well as collective, including military conflicts or racial and class oppression (Kohlke 7). On the one hand, a recreation of these nineteenth century traumas might be an indication that our own century is not entirely free from similar ordeals; on the other hand, it might be perceived as an attempt to exorcise these traumas through “liberatory repetitions with a difference” (Kohlke 10). Thus it can be claimed, using Dominick La Capra’s vocabulary, that the neo-Victorian genre represents not an unconscious, compulsive acting out of the past trauma, but rather a conscious transference, which enables to regain control over the traumatic history.
As an example of a neo-Victorian narrative where a personal traumatic experience is at the core of the plot is Valerie Martin’s Mary Reilly (1990). This reworking of the Victorian classic deals with the typical themes characteristic for trauma narratives. Among them are the importance the memory plays in the construction of the main character and a therapeutic role of the narrative. At the heart of the trauma fiction, however, is the importance of the traumatic memory on the creation of one’s identity. Such an experience seems to change both the relationship between the self and the others, but also may create internal conflicts and shape the identity of the character. In the aforementioned novel, the influence of the childhood abuse on the character will be discussed, with a particular focus on the character’s relationship with men and with her feminine self.
PRELIMINARY BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Balaev, Michelle. “Trends in Literary Trauma Theory.” Mosaic 41.2 (2008): 149 – 165.
Berger, James. “Trauma and literary theory.” Contemporary Literature 38.3 (1997): 569-582.
Bryk, Marta. “The Maidservant in the Attic: Rewriting Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde in Valerie Martin’s Mary Reilly.” Women: a Cultural Review 15.2 (2004): 204–216.
Kohlke, Marie-Luise. “Introduction: Speculations in and on the Neo-Victorian Encounter.” Neo-Victorian Studies 1.1 (2008): 1 – 18.
LaCapra, Dominick. Representing the Holocaust: History, Theory, Trauma. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1994. Print.
Martin, Valerie. Mary Reilly. 1990. London: Abacus, 2003.
Smith, R. McClure. “The Strange Case of Valerie Martin and Mary Reilly.” Narrative: The Journal of the Society for the Study of Narrative Literature 1.3 (1993): 244–64.
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