Discourse of trauma and transformation of memory in the novel of J. S. Foer’s “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close”

Abstract

The article is devoted to considering the peculiarities of trauma discourse in the context of dynamics and transformations of  individual and collective memory based on  the  material of  the  novel by the modern American writer J. S. Foer “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close”. Sociocultural dynamics of  the  first quarter of  the  21st century causes significant changes in  the  spheres of  collective imagination and memory, which finds its  expression in  the  literary discourse, one of  the  significant types of which is currently the discourse of trauma. In turn, the category of trauma acquires universal status in modern humanitarianism. This determines the relevance of the research topic. The purpose of the article is to consider the discursive specificity of J. S. Foer’s novel «Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close» in  the  context of  trauma, individual and collective memory. The  subject of  consideration is  the  peculiarities of  the  representation of  trauma in  the  context of  the  transformation of memory in the novel by J. S. Foer. The novelty of the study consists in the attempt to distinguish the discourse of  trauma related to  the  peculiarities of  the  narrator’s vision of  reality and the  socio-cultural determinations of  trauma that affect the  entire society, that is, to  isolate the  universal discourse of  social trauma in  the  novel compared to  individual trauma. The  task of  the  research: to  analyse the specific features of the discourse of trauma in J. S. Foer’s novel; find out the correlation between trauma discourse and transformations of  individual and collective memory; to  justify the  universal nature of the trauma discourse in the novel. Historical-cultural, hermeneutic and discursive methods were used in the research process. The discourse of trauma in the novel acquires universal features and concerns all the narrators of the novel, who form its plot. The visual component that forms the visual-symbolic narrative of  the  novel actualizes the  synesthetic perception of  the  trauma and its  totality, spread not only to the family of the main character, but also to the entire society. At the same time, the graphic and visual experiments and findings of the author allow us to interpret the text as a complex postmodern and metamodern whole. The trauma discourse in the novel captures the transformations of individual and collective memory, which are aimed at restoring the functionality of the existence of  people and communities on  both the  cognitive and emotional-affective levels. The  discourse of trauma acquires features of totality, while remaining rational and avoiding signs of self-obsession, which enables catharsis as  life after and with trauma. The  symbolic nature of  the  processes taking place in the collective consciousness and imagination represents itself through the transformations of discourse, which record the transformations of memory. Prospects for further research are outlined by the possibility of considering the discourse of trauma in a wider cultural, linguistic and sociological context.