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Listening to stories of trauma from a narrative perspective. Wendy Patterson. Propp’s classic model of narrative 1 mapped onto my model of a trauma narrative 2. restoration of modified version of equilibrium. equilibrium. turbulence. disequilibrium. intervention. action.
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Listening to stories of trauma from a narrative perspective Wendy Patterson Propp’s classic model of narrative1mapped ontomy model of a trauma narrative2 restoration of modified version of equilibrium equilibrium turbulence disequilibrium intervention action X liminal zone Y numbness, madness retraumatisation narrative meaning-making resolutions? 1. Propp, V. ([1928]1968). Morphology of the Folktale (trans. L. Scott) Austin: University of Texas Press 2. Patterson, W. (2000). Reading Trauma: Exploring the relationship between narrative and coping. Unpublished PhD thesis. Nottingham Trent University. Electronic copy available: wendy@journalofhandsurgery.com
1. X liminal zone Y: ‘I was just doing X when Y’3 • equilibrium disturbed/ XY structure • the construction of suddenness • the destruction of agency • the liminal zone • imaginary stories and their evaluative role • the injustice of traumatic experience4 3. Wooffitt, R. (1992) Telling Tales of the Unexpected. Hemel Hempstead: Harvester Wheatsheaf 4. Janoff-Bulman, R. (1996) Shattered Assumptions. Towards a New Psychology of Trauma. New York: The Free Press
2. Disequilibrium: numbness, madness and retraumatisation • metaphor and the dialectic of trauma5 • the specificity of the meaning of ‘mad’ behaviour • retraumatisation; XY structure • imaginary stories and the reverse face of history • rendering the experience6 • the narrative as testimony to the self who has survived and as archive of the life lost. 5. Herman, J. L. (1992) Trauma and Recovery.London: Basic Books 6. Ricoeur, P. (1991) Life in Quest of Narrative in D. Wood (ed.) On Paul Ricoeur. Narrative and Interpretation. London: Routledge
3. Narrative meaning-making • causation • blame • guilt and fighting talk • comparators as evaluative devices7 • social- and self-comparisons8 7. Labov, W. (1972) Language in the Inner City: Studies in the Black English Vernacular.Oxford: Basil Blackwell 8. Taylor, S.E., Wood, J.V. and Lichtman, R.R. (1983) It Could Be Worse: Selective Evaluation as a Response to Victimization. Journal of Social Issues 39(2):19-40
4. Resolutions? endings are two-fold/Janus faced: an ending (the outcome or result), and a beginning, the beginning of a life beyond the trauma is contained in the ending of the trauma story, and the ending of the trauma story is contained within a new beginning, or the promise of a new beginning.