Date of Award
4-2020
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
English
Program
English (MA)
First Advisor/Chairperson
Matthew Frank
Abstract
This thesis seeks to explore the relationship between language, traumatic memory, and identity. Through a cross-genre creative style of writing and scholarship, the writer engages with trauma theory, performative language theory, psychoanalysis, and literature in order to illuminate how language, in its various forms, is the key to self-reclamation after a traumatic event terrorizes the body and mind. Additionally, through the lens of personal narrative, the writer investigates how relationships with language, the reverberations of trauma, and the tumultuous motion of our formative years can affect the development of identity by way of memory. The scope of the narrative illustrates a journey through traumatic memory and an investigation of critical theory, while also employing the language-based framework for recovery.
Recommended Citation
Finch, Maggie, "TOUCHING THE CENTER THAT BURNS: AN EXORCISM" (2020). All NMU Master's Theses. 619.
https://commons.nmu.edu/theses/619
Access Type
Open Access
Justification for Restricting Access
I am hoping to keep working on this manuscript when I graduate in order to turn it into a book. The embargo would allow me the opportunity to work on this project.