Traumatic Memory: Psychic Reality and Cultural Representation

Abstract

Abstract: Traumatic memory exhibits three fundamental features, namely, the individualistic nature, personal experience, and emotional nature, among which personal experience is the most important because the subject of traumatic memory has a pre-privilege of emotion and ethics. The ultimate goal of the subject with traumatic memory is to get through the negative effects of trauma on the subject and make him cope with the real life. Traumatic memory can be studied from the perspective of its origin in the reality and its cultural representation. Trauma in the form of individual suffering could become collective crisis only when it is studied in the context of the collective and universal world, and the theme of trauma can then become from literary theme to the issue of philosophy, ethics and culture. The trauma of body, spirit and society can then become cultural trauma. Nowadays, media have turned personal memory into the public discourse and at the same time turned traumatic memory into everyday life. The paper suggests three attitudes, namely, paying sympathy and respect for sufferings, keeping a vigilant eye on the writing of memory, and differentiating objective truth from subjective truth and the constructive context of correct memory from that of wrong memory.

Key words: traumatic memory, cultural representation, media, personal experience

Zhao Jingrong. Traumatic Memory: Psychic Reality and Cultural Representation[J]. Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art, 2015, 35(2): 110-119.

References

阿斯特莉特·埃尔冯亚琳主编：《文化记忆理论读本》。北京：北京大学出版社，2012年。
[Erll, Astrid, and Feng Yalin, eds. A Cultural Memory Theory Reader. Beijing: Beijing University Press, 2012]
杰弗里·C.亚历山大：“迈向文化创伤理论”，王志弘译，《文化研究》第11辑，陶东风、周宪主编。北京：社会科学文献出版社，2011年。
[Alexander, Jefrrey C. “Toward a Theory of Cultural Trauma.” Trans. Wang Zhihong. Cultural Studies, Vol. 11. Eds. Tao Dongfeng and Zhou Xian. Beijing: Social Sciences Literature Press, 2011.]
Alexander, Jeffery C.. “Toward a Theory of Cultural Trauma.” Cultural Trauma and Collective Identity. Jeffery C. Alexander, et al. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2004.
齐格蒙特·鲍曼：《流动的生活》，徐朝友译。南京：江苏人民出版社，2012年。
[Bauman, Zygmunt. Liquid Life. Trans. Xu Chaoyou. Nanjing: Jiangsu People’s Publishing House, 2012.]
Baudrillard, Jean. Selected Writings. Ed. Mark Poster. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1988.
杜威·德拉埃斯马：《为什么随着年龄的增长时间过得越来越快——记忆如何塑造我们的过去》，张朝霞译。济南：山东教育出版社，2006年。
[Draaisma, Douwe. Why Life Speeds Up As You Get Older: How Memory Shapes Our Past. Trans. Zhang Zhaoxia. Jinan: Shandong Educational Publishing House, 2006.]
盖琪：“民族创伤记忆的影像重建与价值反观：以近年抗日战争题材影视创作为例”，《文化研究》第15辑，陶东风、周宪主编。北京：社会科学文献出版社，2013年。
[Gai, Qi. “Image Reconstruction of National Traumatic Memory and Its Value Reflection: Illustrated with Recent Movies and TV Dramas on Anti-Japanese War.” Cultural Studies, Vol.15. Eds. Tao Dongfeng and Zhou Xian. Beijing: Social Sciences Literature Press, 2013.]
Margalit, Avishai. The Ethics of Memory. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2002.
孙智昌：“‘南京大屠杀’在中日历史教科书中的不同反映”，《学科教育》7（2000）：30-34。
[Sun, Zhichang. “Different Representation of Nanking Massacre in Chinese and Japanese History Textbooks.” Education on Disciplines 7 (2000), 30-34.]
保尔·汤普逊：《过去的声音：口述历史》，覃方明等译。沈阳：辽宁教育出版社，2000年。
[Thompson, Paul. The Voice of the Past: Oral History. Trans. Tan Fangming, et al. Shenyang: Liaoning Education Press, 2000.]
哈拉尔德·韦尔策:《社会记忆：历史、回忆、传承》，季斌等译。北京：北京大学出版社，2007年。
[Welzer, Harald. Social Memory: History, Memory, Handing-Down. Trans. Ji Bin et al. Beijing: Beijing University Press, 2007.]
杨治良等:《记忆心理学》（第三版）。上海：华东师范大学出版社，2012年。
[Yang, Zhiliang, et al. Psychology of Memory (3rd imprint). Shanghai: East China Normal University, 2012.]
徐贲：《人以什么理由来记忆》。长春：吉林出版集团有限公司，2008年。
[Xu, Ben. On What Grounds Man Can Remember. Changchun: Jilin Publishing Group, 2008.]
张均：“中国当代文学研究中的口述史料问题”，《文艺争鸣》6(2013):6-11。
[Zhang, Jun. “Issues in Oral History in Contemporary Chinese Literary Research.” Debates in Literature and Arts 6 (2013), 6-11.]
张俊华：《社会记忆和全球交流》。北京：中国社会科学出版社，2010年。
[Zhang, Junhua. Social Memory and Global Communication. Beijing: China Social Sciences Publishing House, 2010.]
赵静蓉：“‘真’的真实与‘假’的真实：论现代社会中‘本真’与‘仿真’的差异”，《文艺理论研究》3(2009):111-16。
[Zhao, Jingrong. “The ‘Real’ Truth and ‘False’ Truth: On the Difference between Authenticity and Simulacra.” Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art 3 (2009), 111-16.]
周志强：《阐释中国的方式：媒介裂变时代的文化景观》。北京：中国电影出版社，2013年。
[Zhou, Zhiqiang. Methods of Interpreting China: Cultural Spectacles in New Media Age. Beijing: China Social Sciences Publishing House, 2010.]

[1]	Zheng Xing. Why Facebook？ — On the Relevance of Metaverse to Contemporary Social Media [J]. Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art, 2023, 43(1): 21-29.
[2]	Zhang Yan. From Panorama to Metaverse: A Media Archaeological Perspective [J]. Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art, 2023, 43(1): 30-41.
[3]	Xiong Yiran. The Other of Time： The Metaverse and Its Potential for Slow Time [J]. Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art, 2023, 43(1): 42-51.
[4]	Lu Mingjun. The “Revision” of Philosophy through Art History and the Dispute between New Image Philosophy and Old Iconology： Debate Based on “Original Works” [J]. Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art, 2022, 42(6): 65-74.
[5]	Shi Chang. The Rise of Storyworlds： World-Building and the Re-enchanting Culture [J]. Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art, 2022, 42(6): 101-111.
[6]	Shan Xiaoxi. Being Is Media: Heidegger’s Media Ontology and Its Poetic Effect [J]. Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art, 2022, 42(5): 13-26.
[7]	Zheng Nan. Media Formation and Paradigm Production: Evolution of the Method of “Distant Reading” and Its Prospects [J]. Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art, 2022, 42(4): 104-112.
[8]	Zhou Caishu. New Media Literary Spectacle and the Materiality of Literature [J]. Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art, 2022, 42(1): 134-144.
[9]	Yan Qing. On the Core Scope and Self-Consistency of Media Art and Literature [J]. Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art, 2021, 41(6): 158-170.
[10]	Feng Xueqin. The Modern Origin of Animation and the Intermediality of Animation Art [J]. Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art, 2021, 41(4): 160-167.
[11]	Li Sha. Deciphering Hölderlin's "Hyperion": Eccentric Eros — On the Image of the Poet as the Divine Mediator [J]. Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art, 2020, 40(4): 154-164.
[12]	Li Lingling. From Original Creation to Manufactured Production: Transformation of Literary Production in the Age of Internet-Based New Media [J]. Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art, 2020, 40(4): 218-224.
[13]	Li Qian. Liveness and Mediatization: Theater in the Age of Media [J]. Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art, 2020, 40(3): 162-170.
[14]	Yang Guang. An Exploration of Literary Ontology from the Perspective of Friedrich Kittler's Media Theory [J]. Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art, 2019, 39(4): 23-32.
[15]	Kyoo Lee. A Close-up: On U, the Reader InOutside [J]. Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art, 2019, 39(3): 160-.