Psychological Trauma Across Time: English Literature from Victorian Fiction to Contemporary Narratives
Saurabh Thakur1, Dr. Arun Guleria2
1PhD Research Scholar, Department of English, Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla (HP). 2Associate Professor, Department of English (CDOE), Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla (HP)
ABSTRACT
This paper examines the conception of psychological trauma as presented in the select English novels from the Victorian age to the present. Hence, the paper employs primary works of leading women authors: Charlotte Brontë, Emily Brontë, Virginia Woolf, Margaret Atwood, and Hanya Yanagihara, to analyse the changes in the portrayal of trauma in literature as a result of the evolution in the societal, cultural and psychological perception. In the light of the close textual analysis and of the comparative method preferred by the authors, the social and psychological interactions between individual and collective trauma are combined with the changes in narrative techniques, and the interactions and influence of the historical contexts. In this respect, the present study also emphasises the importance of literature in understanding and discussing the nature of psychological trauma.
Keywords: Psychological Trauma, Narratives, Evolution, Comparative Analysis, Periodical Study, Victorian Era.
