“To give form to what cannot be comprehended”: Trauma in Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five and Martin Amis’s Time’s Arrow

Aleksandra Czajkowska

University of Białystok, Poland

Aleksandra Czajkowska is an English Philology graduate at the University of Białystok. In 2021, she defended her MA thesis in the field of Literary Studies. Her primary literary interests include literature concerned with the Second World War and psychological fiction.


https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7772-1880


Abstract

The primary objective of this article is the analysis of trauma in Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five and Martin Amis’s Time’s Arrow. It is argued that through the deployment of experimental literary techniques (particularly destabilized and non-linear narratives) these two novels offer valuable insights into the mechanisms of a traumatized mind and help to understand the uncertain sense of the self experienced by those who suffer from traumatic memories.

Schlagworte:

Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five, Martin Amis, Time’s Arrow, trauma, PTSD, war, 20th century

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Veröffentlicht
2021-11-30


Czajkowska, A. . (2021) „“To give form to what cannot be comprehended”: Trauma in Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five and Martin Amis’s Time’s Arrow“, Crossroads. A Journal of English Studies, (34), S. 59–72. doi: 10.15290/10.15290/CR.2021.34.3.05.

Aleksandra Czajkowska 
University of Białystok, Poland

Aleksandra Czajkowska is an English Philology graduate at the University of Białystok. In 2021, she defended her MA thesis in the field of Literary Studies. Her primary literary interests include literature concerned with the Second World War and psychological fiction.

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7772-1880