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Return to Griffin Creek: communal trauma in Les fous de Bassan.(Critical essay)
- Article from:
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Quebec Studies
- Article date:
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March 22, 2007
- Author:
- Lyngaas, Scott W.
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Copyright informationCOPYRIGHT 2007 American Council for Quebec Studies. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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To interpret trauma in literature is to read stories marginalized by the human mind. It is to attempt to understand what could not be fully experienced and integrated into the consciousness of the individual or the community, and that nonetheless manifests itself through language. Such is the interpretative battle running throughout Anne Hebert's 1982 novel, Les fous de Bassan. On the night of August 31, 1936, in the community of Griffin Creek, Nora and Olivia Atkins were murdered. Les fous de Bassan textualizes the difficulties of representation and understanding engendered by traumatic experiences. It speaks to us about how we relate to traumatic events in our world. From a ...