A Study Of The Theme Of Traumatic Memory In Pat Barker's Novels

Pat Barker(1943—)is a well-known contemporary British writer who writes consistently and diligently.Since 1982 when Barker published her debut work and was enrolled on the Granta list of 20 best young British novelists,Barker has published thirteen novels in more than thirty years' writing career.Among these works,The Ghost Road is the most famous one which won Booker Prize in 1995.Compared with Barker's contribution and research achievements of her work abroad,the introduction,translation and research of Barker's works in China are still rare.Therefore,it is significant for us to do more research on Barker's works,which can also help us to enlarge our knowledge of contemporary British literature.Barker's novels are especially featured by their focus on traumatic memory,involving multi-dimensional thinking on relationship between traumatic memory and history,the latency and intergenerational transmission of traumatic memory,the therapeutic effect of traumatic memory,and artistic representation of traumatic memory,etc.During reflection on traumatic memory,Barker expresses her views on history,art and society.So it is very helpful and necessary to study Barker's works from the angle of traumatic memory.This dissertation argues that interpretation of the theme of traumatic memory is the key to understanding Barker's creative work and ideas as a whole.This dissertation falls into six parts.The part of “Introduction” makes a brief introduction to the status quo of Barker research home and abroad and makes clear why traumatic memory is chosen as the topic of this dissertation.It is a beneficial attempt to analyze Barker's works by revolving around a sole theme and it is also helpful for finding the internal continuity of Barker's creation and various aspects of one theme.Through this research we can also disclose Barker's creative ideas and features.Furthermore,this part also introduces the main literary theories the dissertation rests on,i.e.the trauma theories.Chapter One focuses on “the Regeneration trilogy”(1991-1995),the three novels taking the Great War as background,analyzing their theme of repression of traumatic memory.Different from the usual works about the Great War,“the Regeneration trilogy” chooses hospitals,prisons and the British former colonies as the main sites to rewrite the history of the Great War.Through this way,“the Regeneration trilogy” aims at redefining the cultural trauma of the Great War and changing the British collective memory of it.Barker tries to tell us that the real cultural trauma of the Great War results from the process that groups of people's traumatic memory is repressed.These victims include those officers and soldiers coming back from the battlefield,pacifists,homosexuals,and even those natives of the former British colonies.The responsibility of the trauma is attributed to the imperial system and ideology.The nature of the pain is defined as groups of people's traumatic memory's being repressed and their voice's being silenced.Reconstructing the cultural trauma of the Great War reflects Barker's sense of historical responsibility and claims that UK must face its historical problems and take responsibilities for them.Chapter Two is a study of Another World(1998)and its theme of haunting of traumatic memory.Another World centers on the historical coagulations which cause trauma for both individuals and families.Through the unfolding of traumatic events Barker expresses her reflections on history: Geordie's case discloses the traumatic historicity because he as the traumatized carries an impossible history within him.On the other hand,the burst in mural and the haunted ghosts show the traumatic nature of history---history is composed of repetitions of terrible atrocities.Barker's conception of history in the novel is distinctive,which indicates that time and history can both get away from the linear development and coagulates around terrible atrocities.Based on the historical conception,Barker expresses her worries about the future of mankind.Besides,Another World shows that traumatic memory can also be extended to the next generations in the form of “postmemory”.Even if the generation who experienced catastrophes passes away,the later generations and the people who have close relationship with them would still bear their traumatic memory in the form of familial and affiliative postmemory respectively.The haunting of traumatic memory turns the question of how to deal with traumatic memory into bone of contention.At the end of the novel,Barker hints the intelligence of solving the problem.Chapter Three focuses on Border Crossing(2002)to explore the hidden content reflected by the male character's retelling the story of his traumatic past,which includes psychological and social dimensions.From the dimension of psychology,the novel discloses chaos and confusion of the male character's inner world and exposes his distorted morality.Also,the novel inspires the readers to make a judgment on whether he can achieve recovery from trauma by retelling the traumatic story.The male character's double identity of being traumatized and committing murder decides the difficulties of his recovery.On the one hand,he must recognize the truth of his being traumatized;on the other hand,he also must recognize the truth of his crime.Eventually,the male character fails to do so and loses his opportunity to recover.From the dimension of society,the novel discloses varieties of problems existing in the contemporary British society through the male character's retelling his traumatic past,which include the legal system's neglection of the criminals' mental health,the psychologist's boundary violations and the British government's frequent involving in contemporary wars,etc.These social problems also explain why the male character cannot achieve psychological rehabilitation and they also indicate the deep reasons for his trauma.Chapter Four offers an analysis of Double Vision(2003).This novel focuses on the artistic representation of atrocities and the traumatic memory of the “the Other”.Through the description of artistic creation process and artists' reflection on representation,the novel reflects Barker's ethical thoughts and artistic aesthetics about representation.According to Barker,art has the responsibility of representing human atrocities and the sufferings of “the Other”.Besides,art also has the responsibility of putting across the truth to the public.Art must record traumatic memory of human beings,the cruelty of atrocities and the sufferings of “the Other”,through which art is able to awake the public's conscience and force them to face up to the ugly side of human beings.Correspondingly,the audiences of art also must take the sufferings of “the Other” into serious consideration and shoulder responsibilities.Besides putting forward responsibilities of artistic representation,the novel also implies that art must take the responsibilities to lead people to mourn and get away from trauma.Instead of bringing despair and pessimism,the aim of artistic representing atrocities and trauma is to arouse people's longing for peace and guide them to go toward hopeful future.At the end of the novel,Barker also hints one of the effective ways to go out of trauma,i.e.love and concern for “the Other”.The Conclusion of this dissertation points out that Barker's works show high sense of duty and an intellectual's conscience by writing traumatic memory,disclosing the cruelty of atrocities and paying attention to the sufferings of “the Other”.In this process,Barker adopts the non-sanitized account and represents the dark side of human beings mercilessly,which is very similar to Goya's artistic ideas and techniques.Through this type of artistic presentation techniques,Barker's works produce tremendous art attention,give the audience the feeling of being on the spot and arouse their empathy towards “the Other”.Focusing on sufferings of “the Other” also exposes Barker's moral thoughts.Barker looks on reducing atrocities and sufferings as a kind of ethical pursuit and makes a call for it in her works.Therefore,from both the perspectives of artistic ideas and ethical pursuits,Barker deserves the title “Goya of contemporary British literary world”.