Collective Trauma and Its Narrative Techniques. Julie Otsuka’s "When the Emperor Was Divine" and "The Buddha in the Attic"

Dossier / Travail de Séminaire , 2020 , 26 Pages , Note: 2.0

Philologie Anglaise - Littérature

Julie Otsuka novels "When the Emperor was Divine"(2002) and "The Buddha in the Attic" (2011) narrate the collective trauma experienced by Japanese immigrants in America during the Second World War. With the help of different narrative techniques, both novels communicate the collective trauma to the contemporary reader. This paper analyses the different narrative strategies and their effects on the Western reader in greater detail through traditional close reading strategies.

While "When the Emperor was Divine" narrates the collective trauma through alternating, individual perspectives of a representative Japanese family, "The Buddha in the Attic" manages to create a more powerful communal voice with its consistent first-person plural narration.

Table of Contents

0. Introduction

1. Collective Trauma and Its Narrative Techniques

2. Textual Analysis: When the Emperor was Divine and The Buddha in the Attic
2.1. Narrative Perspective(s)
2.1.1. The Communal Voice
2.1.2. The Oppositional Us. Vs. Them Dichotomy
2.1.3. The Role of the Narrattee
2.2. Discourse
2.2.1. Selective Individualization
2.2.2. Intermediality and Intertextuality
2.2.3. Tone
2.2.4. Time
2.3. Story
2.3.1. Figures

3. Trauma Symptoms: Amnesia, Denial, Dissociation and Loss of Identity

4. Conclusion

5. Works Cited

• Université: University of Freiburg (Englisches Seminar)
• Note: 2.0
• Auteur: Marnie Hensler (Auteur)
• Année de publication: 2020
• Pages: 26
• N° de catalogue: V1030973
• ISBN (ebook): 9783346432650
• ISBN (Livre): 9783346432667
• Langue: anglais
• mots-clé: collective, trauma, narrative, techniques, julie, otsuka’s, when, emperor, divine, buddha, attic