On The Trauma Writing And The Identity Construction In The Amazing Adventures Of Kavalier & Clay

As the third-generation American Jewish writer,Michael Chabon(1963--)became the youngest winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Literature with The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay,elevating his literary reputation to one of the most celebrated writers in the United States.The novel tells the story of two Jewish cousins,Joe Kavalier and Sammy Clay,who experienced trauma and pain in the context of the Holocaust in World War II,and their attempt to narrate trauma and pursue identity through the creation of comics in the golden age of American comics.Trauma is a significant motif throughout the novel.On the basis of previous studies,this thesis applies relevant theories of trauma research to explore the trauma writing in The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay,and analyzes the relationship between trauma writing and identity construction,so as to explore the possible ways of trauma healing conveyed in the novel and seek the practical significance of trauma writing.This thesis is mainly divided into four parts.The first part gives a brief introduction to the writer Michael Chabon and roughly sorts out the characters and plot of the novel.Besides,it summarizes the research literature about Chabon and his works at home and abroad,and further introduces the theoretical framework and main structure of the paper.The second part analyzes the traumatic experiences of Clay and Kavalier to explore the causes of their respective trauma and the following impact on their psychology and identity cognition.On this basis,it further discusses the Holocaust trauma and Jewish cultural trauma represented by the Golem which bears the cultural memory of the Jewish nation.The third part focuses on the attempts of the protagonists to narrate trauma and pursue their identities.By analyzing their specific practices in narrating trauma through caricature and the results of these attempts,it draws the conclusion that narrating trauma through caricature is a positive attempt,but due to the deviation of original creation intention,their trauma narration failed,then further explores the underlying reasons for the failure of the attempt.The last part of the thesis combines the trauma recovery theory to analyze the different choices of Kavalier and Clay in the face of trauma,explain the methods of trauma recovery,and explore the important metaphorical role of the Golem image in the novel.With the creation of a new Golem story,Chabon implies the possibility of the reconstruction of Jewish culture and cultural identity.The conclusion summarizes the views of the whole text,puts Chabon’s trauma writing in the context of the integration of Jewish culture and American culture,and believes that Chabon’s trauma writing reflects the self-confidence of contemporary American Jewish writers in their own national culture and in the reconstruction of cultural identity of contemporary Jews.On the whole,it is of great practical significance and value to interpret the trauma writing and identity construction in Chabon’s novels.Trauma writing is not only the inheritance of literary tradition,but also the concern of human existence in the contemporary cultural context.