To narrate is to articulate lost time and space: gender violence and trauma in Troubling Love by Elena Ferrante
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.11606/issn.1984-1124.i27p264-284Keywords:
Gender violence, Trauma, Sexual abuse, Elena Ferrante, Troubling Love, PsychoanalysisAbstract
In the present article, we aim to put on view how the novel Troubling Love, by Elena Ferrante, is impinged by a sexual abuse that affects the relationship of a daughter and her mother. To the extent that it conveys gender violence, this happening presents itself as a cultural blind spot, shaping itself as traumatic. By the end of the book, after reconstructing the story of her mother, it is possible for the narrator, Delia, to remember the abuse she suffered as a child, signifying episodes of her past that manifested themselves as a malaise. The 'troubling' in the title, which epitomises the mother-daughter relationship, permeates the plot resonating the troubling of the violence only unveiled by the end of the novel. Our theoretical take is supported by the considerations of Shoshana Felman on literature, testimony and cultural trauma. With the intent to link trauma and gender violence, we revisit Sigmund Freud's perspective on the theme, as well as the contemporary discussions, through Cathy Caruth and Gayle Rubin. Thus, we argue that Elena Ferrante's novel allows to a breaking through in the possibilities of narrating sexual abuse and gender violence traumas, as cultural blind spots.
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Copyright (c) 2020 Ana Paula Bellochio Thones, Helena Pillar Kessler, Karla Julliana da Silva Sousa, Lia Aguirre Silveira da Rosa, Tatianne Santos Dantas
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