The Trauma Writing In Sherwood Anderson's Novel:Winesburg,Ohio

Winesburg,Ohio is one of the representative works of Sherwood Anderson,an American writer.This novel establishes his position in the history of American literature.The novel consists of 25 interrelated stories about a group of grotesques in the small town of Winesburg.The grotesques grasp all kinds of self-righteous "truth" and show different symptoms,which confirms the reliability of this novel as traumatic literature.This paper intends to analyze Winesburg,Ohio from the perspective of trauma writing,according to Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic theory and Judith Herman's trauma and recovery theory.Also,this article combines with the author's personal experience and the social background to summarize the trauma symptoms of the grotesques and explore the writing methods of presenting trauma.After that,the paper try to explore the significance of trauma writing and the healing methods.Through the study,it can further enrich the ideological connotation of the novel and explore the realistic value of the novel.This paper is composed of five parts:In the introduction,it introduces Sherwood Anderson and his works,then summarizes the research results both at home and abroad,especially for Winesburg,Ohio.Finally,by explaining the concepts of trauma,trauma theory and trauma writing,the paper points out the feasibility,value and significance of studying the novel from this angle.The first chapter analyzes the characteristics and causes of trauma symptoms about these grotesques.Combining with the text,the paper extracts several major traumatic symptoms,including fear,autism,madness and aphasia to analyze the prominent performers of these symptoms,then explore the specific causes of the injury from the individual and family,social and era levels.Chapter two explores the characteristics of trauma writing.The paper mainly presents from three aspects:subconsciousness,memory reproduction and irony.It further points out that compulsive action,dream,howling and traumatic memory are the manifestations of trauma.Language irony and situational irony reveal traumatic situations rhetorically and increase the artistic charm of the novel.Chapter three discusses the significance of trauma writing.Firstly,it shows the hesitation of the characters in the transitional period.Secondly,it tries to find ways to heal the trauma,including rebuilding the sense of security,establishing emotional bonds,talking and speaking,fleeing and leaving.It points out the problems of these grotesques in Winesburg in order to find ways out of the siege.The conclusion part illustrates the universality of trauma.Anderson's characters have their times and spiritual predicament,and people in the 21st century are also facing the danger of becoming grotesque.Trauma is essentially an unfinished topic.