Remembering trauma : HIV/AIDS literature and intergenerational memory : a creative and critical response

Abstract

The thesis consists of creative and critical sections that explore and discuss the AIDS crisis and the way in which memories and experiences of it can be explored in the present. The creative portion 'Ricordare' is a series of vignettes that move from the past to the present, alternating points of view from the narrator, myself, and that of a relative who has died of HIV/AIDS complications. The work explores the stigma attached to the disease, even years later, and the way in which memory is problematised due to this. It represents a quest to understand the past and endeavours to represent the life and suffering of a man whom both family and time has tried to forget. The exegetical portion of the work examines the short stories of Susan Sontag and Andrew Holleran in conjunction with the work 'Ricordare'. Using the framework postmemory and its evocation of memory and pain in the present, I argue that the literary devices and themes present within these works allow for interactions with experiences of trauma to occur, and provide a framework through which memory can be accessed and mediated in the present. The thesis aims to highlight the essential nature of literatures of trauma, and the importance of writing and reading itself as a means of understanding the past and ensuring experiences of marginalisation, trauma and loss are not forgotten through the distance time provides.

Date of Award	2017
Original language	English