Reformulation Poetry: A Theory and Collaborative Process to Address the Fragmented Self of Past Traumatic Events

Walling, Terriann¹, Gerard, George^2
1University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada
²Syracuse University, Syracuse, Verenigde Staten

 

Submission type

Oral only

Scheduled

Poster, Beurs van Berlage , Grote Zaal

Kernwoorden

trauma, Caruth, Felman, Herman, Eliot

Onderzoeksgebied

Novel (therapeutic) approaches

Introductie

In Unclaimed Experience: Trauma, Narrative, and History, Cathy Caruth writes, “an address of voice [… is] the “story of the way in which one’s own trauma is tied up with the trauma of another” (8). She continues, “[...] listening to the address of another [… is] an address that remains enigmatic yet demands a listening and a response” (9). The theory of reformulation poetry draws primarily from literary trauma theorists Cathy Caruth, Shoshana Felman, and Judith Herman. It introduces a collaborative bi-directional process of safely giving voice to trauma, witnessing another’s trauma, and addressing trauma for partnered individuals. A reformulated poem is the deconstruction of two poems of trauma that are carefully reconstructed into a single new poem. The unified address of each trauma, in the reconstruction, helps to find meaning; a reformulated poem represents the creation of a mosaic from incomprehensible fragments of trauma. The collaborative act of mutually addressing two traumas fosters the creation of this semantic-episodic narrative as a physical artifact, thereby encoding new meaning and changing the nature of the traumatic fragments.

Auteurs