افاق للعلوم
Volume 9, Numéro 4, Pages 400-419
2024-09-29

Authorial Development From Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (ptsd) To Post-traumatic Growth (ptg): A Psychoanalytic Reading Of Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-five And Timequake.

Authors : Amirat Mohamed Charaf Eddine . Kabache Taieb .

Abstract

This article intends to explore the rational association connecting Kurt Vonnegut’s encounter with Post-traumatic Stress Disorder and Post-traumatic Growth’s considerable impact on his fictional narrative. Previous studies lean on linking the authors’ spring of creativity to PTSD, it is a legitimate intent, for this study, to look at things differently and attempt to verify the potential facet(s) of transformation that begins with tragic experiences only to end up with an elevated creation of ingenious literary texts. Therefore, the centre focus of this paper is analyzing Kurt Vonnegut’s healing process to explore PTG’s affirmative connotations and how much serenity it can provide on the long term. In addition, the psychological developmental process that Vonnegut experienced throughout his career construct the fundamental argument to best deduce the crucial results pertaining to psychological maturity. Accordingly, a psychoanalytical approach would logically map out the considerable hints of psychological positive change(s) as a direct/indirect result of traumatic confrontations. Pursuing wholeness of meaning through a fictitious mirroring of reality intrigued Vonnegut to intensely explore his own eccentricity. In other words, we investigate if trauma narratives, trauma fiction in Slaughterhouse-five and Timequake, are vivid transcripts of the progressive healing process as a proof of PTG.

Keywords

Kurt Vonnegut ; PTSD ; PTG ; Personality Development ; Trauma Fiction