Rewriting the American Soul: Trauma, Neuroscience and the Contemporary Literary Imagination
Rewriting the American Soul focuses on the political implications of psychoanalytic and neurocognitive approaches to trauma, their impact on cultural representations of collective trauma in the United States, and their subversive appropriation in pre- and post-9/11 fiction. Anna Thiemann connects current trauma theory with the historical context from which it emerged and shows that contemporary novels encourage us to reflect critically on the cultural meanings and political uses of trauma. In doing so, she contributes to a new generation of trauma scholarship that challenges the dominant paradigm in literary and cultural studies. Moreover, her book intervenes in current debates about the relationship between literature and neuroscience insisting that the so-called neuronovel scrutinizes scientific developments and their political ramifications rather than merely adopting and translating them into aesthetic forms.
Fach: Englische Philologie
Betreuerinnen: Prof. Dr. Maria I. Diedrich, Prof. Dr. Martina Wagner-Egelhaaf, Prof. Dr. N. Katherine Hayles (Duke University)