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Title "RE-IMAGINING HOLOCAUST: THE POLITICS OF TERROR AND TRAUMA IN THE MIDDLE EAST FICTION "

Author(s) Khadeeja Mushtaq

Abstract Title: Re-Imagining Holocaust: The Politics of Terror and Trauma in the Middle East Fiction Wars and military conflicts have besieged the Middle East for years resulting in colossal human tragedy especially in countries like Syria and Iraq. This extended exposure to extremely traumatic events, which include encounter with grotesque deaths and total destruction, has serious consequences for the mental health of the survivor-victims. Through the textual analysis of the selected fiction from wartime Syria and Iraq, this study engages with the grim on-ground traumatic reality and its detrimental effects on the psyche and emotional lives of the characters. As the imagined worlds of the texts are imbricated in the sociological reality of the two countries, a comprehensive account of the true events is considered a necessary prelude to the understanding of the characters’ responses to war, destruction and global politics. The analyses of the texts rely on two assumptions: that the prolonged encounter with the grotesque has serious, devastating effects on the mental health of the characters (the survivor-victims of the wars), and that trauma is not only personal but also political – terror is used as a ploy by those who control these wars to bring the characters, as victims of these wars, into a state of total abjection and submission. As the selected texts reveal, this psychological terror can manifest in multiple ways, for instance, military prowess, media censorship, and/or narrative framing etc. The literary analyses invoke Robert J. Lifton, Judith Butler, and Giorgio Agamben to support these objectives. The study concludes that future studies on Middle East war-trauma must take into account the total devastation of survivors’ physical and mental landscapes in order to fully understand the complex nature of traumatic injury inflicted on the trauma victims.

Type Thesis/Dissertation

Faculty Languages

Department English

Language English

Publication Date 2024-03-20

Subject PhD English Literature

Publisher Department of English (GS)

Contributor(s) Prof

Format As per departmental guidelines

Identifier Dr. Muhammad Haseeb Nasir (PhD English Program Coordinator)

Source PhD

Relation

Coverage

Rights