The Unreliable Narrator, Problematic Representation, and Perpetrator Trauma in A Gesture Life
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In arguing for a rereading of the unreliable narrator in Chang-rae Lee’s A Gesture Life as suffering from perpetrator trauma, this paper first considers the way that unrecognized history can problematize literary representation, the interaction between history and memory, and the heightened requirements placed on the reader in the presence of an unreliable narrator. Applying Saira Mohamed’s definition of perpetrator trauma in conjunction with a close reading of the narrator’s words and the Iserian gaps in those words that place a certain onus on the reader, I suggest that Hata’s inability to cope with his traumatic memories results in unsuccessful attempts at vicarious expiation through other relationships in the novel. At the end of the novel, I contend, readers may find themselves trading places with Hata, undergoing a kind of self-analysis as well through the participatory act of reading.
Abstract
In arguing for a rereading of the unreliable narrator in Chang-rae Lee’s A Gesture Life as suffering from perpetrator trauma, this paper first considers the way that unrecognized history can problematize literary representation, the interaction between history and memory, and the heightened requirements placed on the reader in the presence of an unreliable narrator. Applying Saira Mohamed’s definition of perpetrator trauma in conjunction with a close reading of the narrator’s words and the Iserian gaps in those words that place a certain onus on the reader, I suggest that Hata’s inability to cope with his traumatic memories results in unsuccessful attempts at vicarious expiation through other relationships in the novel. At the end of the novel, I contend, readers may find themselves trading places with Hata, undergoing a kind of self-analysis as well through the participatory act of reading.
참고문헌 (15)
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