Speechlessness as a way of expressing trauma in the novel «Die Verwandelten» by Ulrike Drаesner

Abstract

The article is devoted to the consideration of speechlessness as a way of expressing trauma in the novel “Die Verwandelten” (2023) by the modern German writer Ulrike Draesner. Speechlessness, as the study finds out, appears here as an opportunity to identify individual trauma and its corresponding image. The methodological basis for the analysis is the achievements of such scientific areas as memory studies and trauma studies, as well as a post-colonial approach to understanding the nature of traumatic experiences. Most modern linguistic and literary studies aim to find out the nature of the verbalization of trauma. This article focuses more on the non-verbal expression of trauma. As a result of the study, it was found that trauma in Ulrike Draesner’s novel is represented non-verbally through verbal silence, the inability to talk about traumatic experiences due to feelings of shame and guilt, conscious or unconscious silencing of trauma, the ineffability of trauma due to the construction of an internal taboo, silence against the background of the political situation, silence as a type communication between characters, “camouflaging” the story of trauma, which is key to the narrative of the work, under an insignificant side story. The novelty of the research consists in considering a new work of art, which represents numerous historical traumas of the 20th century not only through verbal, but also through non-verbal forms. In the context of the modern Russian-Ukrainian war, this topic is relevant and is constantly deepened by new research.