Resumen de Contemporary trends in literary trauma theory: A critical overview
Forwarded by Yale school theorists such as Cathy Caruth and Geoffrey Hartman, trauma theory came into prominence in the early 1990s. Arising with the aim of revigorating the field of humanities with relevance in the midst of a deconstructivist milieu, trauma theory’s early model is prominently informed by Freudian psychology and historiographical insights, and is concerned with the ethical, aesthetic and literary implications of the witnessing and (un)representability of a shock following an individual or a collectively suffered disaster. In this sense, the field’s relevance resides in its unmitigated ability to synchronize a multiplicity of theoretical lenses in order to delve into an aspect undissociated from human existence: grief and the dilemma of testimony and representation.
However, since its inception, the apparatus of trauma studies has been subjected to a variegated array of criticism signaling the theory’s constraining, Freudian-laden heritage, and its encroachment in the Caruthian predicament of trauma as an intrinsically unspeakable and disabling event. Hence, contemporary criticism is foremost a conjoint effort to overcome the aporetic premise of trauma’s (un)representability and its Freudian-centric limitations. Revisionist trends in the field are contending for a culturally and ideologically determined definition of trauma while seeking to accommodate the multifarious expressions of trauma-induced suffering displayed by non-Western cultures. With this in mind, the aim of this work is to provide a contrastive overview of the evolution of trauma theory since its early articulation to the present. We will seek to articulate the latest trauma studies critical trends, while also illuminating the most prominent stylistic elements and thematic foci of interest favoured by current works of trauma fiction. Ultimately, it would be argued that, despite its organic critical limitations, trauma theory is a forceful critical tool in the sphere of literary criticism.
