Document Type : Extracted from a master's thesis
Authors
1 College of Languages/ English Department/ University of Sulaimani
2 English Department/ College of Languages/ University of Sulaimani/ Sulaimani/ Iraq
Abstract
This paper presents a part of the M.A. thesis entitled Fragmented Memory: A Psychoanalytical Study of Trauma in Selected Vietnam War Poems. The paper adapts Michelle Balaev's pluralistic approach to trauma in studying selected poems by Vietnam War veterans who witnessed the calamitous war, producing a different literary representation compared to earlier periods of war poetry. The study aims at a deeper investigation of the psychological trauma experienced by veteran poets, and highlights the documentary quality of the poetry that was a mirror to the very events where veterans and Vietnamese equally turned into a raw material for sacrifice. It is an attempt at proving that Vietnam veterans poetry is trauma poetry. It focuses on physical violence against both sides as the basis of the trauma verse, which captures the emotional and psychological impacts of the Vietnam War. The study challenges the notion of the unspeakability of trauma, and through the application of the pluralistic model, it emphasises the representability of trauma and the ability of poetry to articulate traumatic experiences. It highlights how veterans’ poetry provides a deeper and more personal insight into the war complexities, offering a more authentic representation of its emotional and psychological toll.
Keywords
Article Title [کوردی]
Trauma Written on Flesh: A Psychoanalytic Study of Trauma in Selected Vietnam Veteran Poems
Authors [کوردی]
- سیوان محمد توفیق 1
- کەنار ئەسعەد ئەدهەم 2
1 کۆلێژی زمان/ بەشی ئینگلیزی/ زانکۆی سلێمانی
2 بەشی ئینگلیزی/ کۆلێژی زمان/ زانکۆی سلێمانی/ سلێمانی/ عێراق
Abstract [کوردی]
This paper presents a part of the M.A. thesis entitled Fragmented Memory: A Psychoanalytical Study of Trauma in Selected Vietnam War Poems. The paper adapts Michelle Balaev's pluralistic approach to trauma in studying selected poems by Vietnam War veterans who witnessed the calamitous war, producing a different literary representation compared to earlier periods of war poetry. The study aims at a deeper investigation of the psychological trauma experienced by veteran poets, and highlights the documentary quality of the poetry that was a mirror to the very events where veterans and Vietnamese equally turned into a raw material for sacrifice. It is an attempt at proving that Vietnam veterans poetry is trauma poetry. It focuses on physical violence against both sides as the basis of the trauma verse, which captures the emotional and psychological impacts of the Vietnam War. The study challenges the notion of the unspeakability of trauma, and through the application of the pluralistic model, it emphasises the representability of trauma and the ability of poetry to articulate traumatic experiences. It highlights how veterans’ poetry provides a deeper and more personal insight into the war complexities, offering a more authentic representation of its emotional and psychological toll.
Keywords [کوردی]
- pluralistic approach
- Balaev
- body
- Ehrhart
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