Post-traumatic Culture

Reviews / Votes

"'Post-traumatic Culture' is a highly creative analysis of trauma, both real and imagined, as part of a cultural system. Its mix of literary analysis, provocative moments, and tantalizing speculation makes it truly a one of a kind book." --Elizabeth Loftus, President, American Psychological Society "Farrell treats a variety of sensational contemporary issues, like post-traumatic stress disorder and the public's panic over child abuse, as cultural tropes, exploring their literary and cinematic narrativizations for the ideological interests they serve. Of particular interest are the discussions about how English and American cultures 'manage' trauma, and how public fantasies model experiences of victimization. The chapter on the film 'Schindler's List' offers a brilliant reading which relates the slave labor economy of the Nazis and Schindler himself to the inhumane conditions of 'Depression-era capitalist cultures' in general, and to today's trend of corporate 'downsizing' with its all too real traumatic consequences."--Joel Black, University of Georgia "A rich and eloquent critical study which offers the violent and visionary aspects of late 19th-century literature and culture as a mirror for our own no less stressful times."--Patrick Parrinder, The University of Reading