Readings of Trauma and Madness in LiteratureModule Details

Background and Rationale
 

This course explores how Modernist fiction narratives by various writers such as Hemingway, the Fitzgeralds, and H.D. represent trauma, specifically addressing the conflict between speaking about and repressing traumatic memories. It also examines how madness has been constructed and represented in western culture from the late Middle Ages to the twenty-first century. It looks at the medical and popular notions of madness prevailing at crucial historical moments, and analyses the ways in which the main themes related to madness (fragmentation, folly, lovesickness, alienation, melancholy, delusion, derangement) have been explored and exploited in a wide selection of genres, such as autobiography, diary writing, the novel, the short story, epic poetry, theatre and film.

Learning Outcomes
On completion of this module the student should be able to:
 Describe the relationship between a range of modern novels andideas of madness and Trauma;
 Situate these works within their historical and social contexts;
 Evaluate the relationship between the trauma and madness contexts and the fictional works;
 Analyze how writers use the literary genre of the novel to represent and/or critique dominant trauma/madness narratives and/or social norms;
 Examine the relationship between 'hysteria' and gender construction.