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A Voice Crying out from the Wound—with or without Words: On Trauma, Speech, and Silence1
Author(s) -
Welz Claudia
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
dialog
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.114
H-Index - 5
eISSN - 1540-6385
pISSN - 0012-2033
DOI - 10.1111/dial.12361
Subject(s) - silence , crying , the holocaust , representation (politics) , psychology , linguistics , cognitive psychology , communication , social psychology , aesthetics , art , philosophy , theology , politics , political science , law
Drawing on memory and trauma studies, psychotherapeutic research, and Holocaust testimonies (in particular those of Wiesel, Semprun, Kulka, and Appelfeld), this article explores the role of speech and silence in the process of working through severe trauma. That which seems “incommunicable” will be considered in regard to the limits of linguistic representation and the problems of communication caused by the interlocutors’ avoidance of the past. How can one ensure that recounting traumatic memories does not become an extra risk rather than a remedy?