Fast Forward to the Past: Revisiting Trauma after the Fall

The representation of traumatic experience usually brings to the surface an element that has been long repressed. To a great extent it also implies “breaking the silence” imposed by an authoritarian voice proposing a one-dimensional version of the historical Real. This paper analyses the way in wh...

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Main Authors: Carolina Sánchez-Palencia, Manuel Almagro
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Universidad de Zaragoza 2012-03-01
Series:Miscelánea: A Journal of English and American Studies
Subjects:
Online Access:https://papiro.unizar.es/ojs/index.php/misc/article/view/9094
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author Carolina Sánchez-Palencia
Manuel Almagro
author_facet Carolina Sánchez-Palencia
Manuel Almagro
author_sort Carolina Sánchez-Palencia
collection DOAJ
description The representation of traumatic experience usually brings to the surface an element that has been long repressed. To a great extent it also implies “breaking the silence” imposed by an authoritarian voice proposing a one-dimensional version of the historical Real. This paper analyses the way in which some recent films —which dramatize the collateral effects of the collapse of Communist regimes— offer new representations of actual historical events and address a common and, at the same time varied, European concern for coming to terms with a recent traumatic past. The films feature their protagonists trapped in a characteristic traumatic paradox as they have to reconcile testimonial accuracy with the essential ineffability of their experiences. However, guided by a common desire to rewrite the past and to heal personal and collective wounds, they resort to the materiality of objects which function as what Pierre Nora terms ‘lieux de mémoire’, that is, new signifiers for the (re)creation of a different History.
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spelling doaj.art-a58cf83fe07c47f2b7413d1d0c43c2752023-07-05T16:57:19ZengUniversidad de ZaragozaMiscelánea: A Journal of English and American Studies1137-63682386-48342012-03-014410.26754/ojs_misc/mj.20119094Fast Forward to the Past: Revisiting Trauma after the FallCarolina Sánchez-Palencia0Manuel Almagro1Universidad de SevillaUniversidad de Sevilla The representation of traumatic experience usually brings to the surface an element that has been long repressed. To a great extent it also implies “breaking the silence” imposed by an authoritarian voice proposing a one-dimensional version of the historical Real. This paper analyses the way in which some recent films —which dramatize the collateral effects of the collapse of Communist regimes— offer new representations of actual historical events and address a common and, at the same time varied, European concern for coming to terms with a recent traumatic past. The films feature their protagonists trapped in a characteristic traumatic paradox as they have to reconcile testimonial accuracy with the essential ineffability of their experiences. However, guided by a common desire to rewrite the past and to heal personal and collective wounds, they resort to the materiality of objects which function as what Pierre Nora terms ‘lieux de mémoire’, that is, new signifiers for the (re)creation of a different History. https://papiro.unizar.es/ojs/index.php/misc/article/view/9094TraumaHistoriographyFallRevisionMemoryRe-writing
spellingShingle Carolina Sánchez-Palencia
Manuel Almagro
Fast Forward to the Past: Revisiting Trauma after the Fall
Miscelánea: A Journal of English and American Studies
Trauma
Historiography
Fall
Revision
Memory
Re-writing
title Fast Forward to the Past: Revisiting Trauma after the Fall
title_full Fast Forward to the Past: Revisiting Trauma after the Fall
title_fullStr Fast Forward to the Past: Revisiting Trauma after the Fall
title_full_unstemmed Fast Forward to the Past: Revisiting Trauma after the Fall
title_short Fast Forward to the Past: Revisiting Trauma after the Fall
title_sort fast forward to the past revisiting trauma after the fall
topic Trauma
Historiography
Fall
Revision
Memory
Re-writing
url https://papiro.unizar.es/ojs/index.php/misc/article/view/9094
work_keys_str_mv AT carolinasanchezpalencia fastforwardtothepastrevisitingtraumaafterthefall
AT manuelalmagro fastforwardtothepastrevisitingtraumaafterthefall