Date of Completion
8-21-2015
Embargo Period
8-12-2025
Keywords
trauma, sentiment, sympathy, sublime, British literature, long nineteenth century
Major Advisor
Charles Mahoney
Associate Advisor
Greg Semenza
Associate Advisor
Margaret Higonnet
Field of Study
English
Degree
Doctor of Philosophy
Open Access
Open Access
Abstract
This study argues that the prevalent eighteenth- and nineteenth-century literary-historical modes of sentiment, sympathy, and the sublime act as foundations for trauma theory by anticipating, and perhaps even offering a fuller view of traumatic experiences and their impact on individuals and communities. Through these modes, authors and philosophers conceptualize the emotional lives of individuals as part of larger and complex narratives of subjectivity—bringing together theories of economics, education, class, and philosophy. In other words, their holistic approach views the individual’s emotional, physiological, and psychological health within a social context. Sentiment, sympathy, and the sublime therefore prime us for reading trauma’s impact on the individual through the body and memory, as well as through interpersonal and emotional relationships. These modes furthermore demonstrate the ways in which the language of witnessing and testimony are central terms for understanding, communicating, and representing those traumas.
Recommended Citation
Khan, Laila, "Traumatic Modes: Sentiment, Sympathy, and the Sublime" (2015). Doctoral Dissertations. 873.
https://digitalcommons.lib.uconn.edu/dissertations/873