A history of scars: An examination of how war and trauma changes people and the stories they tell

Abstract

This paper will attempt to analyse the effects of war, intergenerational trauma and selective persecution on the human psyche, and how that is reflected in literature through the theoretical frameworks of New Historicism and trauma studies. The aims of this paper is to examine if only the persecuted or the defeated are affected by trauma, or if there are opportunities for polyphonic discourse, with the perspectives from both sides being highlighted. The first part of the paper will discuss the American Civil War and its aftermath, particularly the reflection of self-loathing portrayed in William Faulkner’s Absalom, Absalom! and the crisis of identity caused by trauma and its manifestation in Richard Wright’s Native Son. The second part of the paper will delve into the history of the War of Liberation of Bangladesh, and discuss literature’s role in validating and propagating dominant ideological structures through capillaries of power. Furthermore, this section will also assess the importance of polyphonic narratives and dialogic discourse for healthy identity formation, and discuss the potential of peripheral narratives through an examination of Shahidul Zahir’s Mukher Dike Dekhi. Finally, this paper will offer potential pathways to locate and render minority narratives, which can be beneficial to interrogate the past and contextualise the present in order to better understand the interplay of power. I hope this paper will help future researchers appreciate the gravity of history, and the extent to which it is woven into our national and individual identities.