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Historical Trauma: Literary and Testimonial Responses to Hiroshima

The concept of trauma is controversial in literature. While one may be able to come up with ways to describe trauma in fiction, representing historical trauma is a hard task for writers. Some argue that trauma can not be described through those who did not experience it, while others claim that, pro...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author:	Ghonim, Mariam
Format:	Thesis
Published:	AUC Knowledge Fountain 2023
Subjects:	Nuclear catastrophe narrative testimonial trauma historical trauma documentary nuclear catastrophe society war politics atomic bomb literature atomic bomb American Politics Asian American Studies Asian Art and Architecture Asian History Asian Studies Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education Central American Studies Child Psychology Children's and Young Adult Literature Civic and Community Engagement Community-Based Research Community Psychology Comparative and Historical Linguistics Comparative Literature Comparative Politics Comparative Psychology Critical and Cultural Studies Cultural History Defense and Security Studies Demography, Population, and Ecology Developmental Psychology Eastern European Studies Emergency and Disaster Management European History Family, Life Course, and Society Film and Media Studies Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Ethnicity in Communication Health Policy History of the Pacific Islands Holocaust and Genocide Studies Human Factors Psychology Indigenous Studies Inequality and Stratification International Relations Japanese Studies Language Description and Documentation Literature in English, North America, Ethnic and Cultural Minority Mass Communication Migration Studies Military and Veterans Studies Military History Multicultural Psychology Other English Language and Literature Other History Other International and Area Studies Other Psychology Other Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration Other Social and Behavioral Sciences Other Sociology Pacific Islands Languages and Societies Pain Management Peace and Conflict Studies Personality and Social Contexts Place and Environment Policy History, Theory, and Methods Political History Politics and Social Change Public Administration Public Affairs Public History Public Policy Quantitative, Qualitative, Comparative, and Historical Methodologies Race and Ethnicity Social Control, Law, Crime, and Deviance Social History Social Influence and Political Communication Social Justice Social Policy Social Psychology Social Psychology and Interaction Social Welfare Sociology of Culture South and Southeast Asian Languages and Societies Theory and Criticism Theory and Philosophy Theory, Knowledge and Science United States History Urban Studies
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Summary:	The concept of trauma is controversial in literature. While one may be able to come up with ways to describe trauma in fiction, representing historical trauma is a hard task for writers. Some argue that trauma can not be described through those who did not experience it, while others claim that, provided some elements are added, one can represent trauma to the reader. This thesis focuses on twentieth-century historical traumas related to a nuclear catastrophe and explores the different literary and testimonial responses to the catastrophic man-made event of Hiroshima (1945). In this thesis, Kathleen Burkinshaw’s historical fiction The Last Cherry Blossom (2016) is used as the primary text while exploring varieties of literary and documentary works, presenting the Hiroshima traumatic events: John Hersey’s Hiroshima (1946), Richard H. Minear’s Hiroshima: Three Witnesses (1990) —focusing on only two witnesses Hara Tamiki and Ōta Yōko— and Steven Okazaki’s White Light/Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (2007). Each work differs in genre, narrative, style, and retelling of the nuclear catastrophe while covering a wide spectrum of literary presentations of historical trauma. The thesis compares the different narrative strategies and depictions in relaying traumas to readers who have not experienced the event firsthand. Furthermore, it sheds light on the political agenda of the nuclear catastrophe in Hiroshima, and how it contributed to the trauma of the survivors.

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Historical Trauma: Literary and Testimonial Responses to Hiroshima

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