A novel, Scattering Thomas Taylor, and critical commentary ‘Trauma, memory and narrative: a creative and critical exploration of memory and trauma in the veteran’s narrative, 1967-2014’

Abstract

My PhD novel Scattering Thomas Taylor seeks to explore the role of the returning veteran in late 20^th and early 21^st-Century American Literature. The novel explores trauma, memory, and current national attitudes towards veterans, focussing on the arguably linked but vastly different experiences of Vietnam veterans and soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Through an exploration of literary depictions of veterans’ experiences both during conflict and on their return, and by experimenting with these depictions in my own creative work, I aim to provoke in the reader questions about truth and authenticity, and the role and purpose of story-telling. Through depicting Tom’s story-telling about his experiences in Vietnam, and Frank’s attempts to remember and transcribe them, I also explore the impact of trauma and grief on memory and relationships.

The critical component explores the origins of the modern veteran novel through close reading, literary criticism and historiography, and assesses constant tropes in the field, and aims to identify and examine developing trends and traditions emergent in the fledgling literature of the War on Terror. I focus my examination on Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried as O’Brien’s work seems to be a primary influence on the new literature to come out of the War on Terror - for example, Kevin Powers’ The Yellow Birds. My initial interest in this area of research stems from a curiosity about the disparity of experience (on the surface at least) between returning veterans of Vietnam, and those returning from Afghanistan and Iraq, inspired by conversations with veterans of these conflicts.

I also question how the influence of writing by veterans of earlier wars has come to shape how veteran narratives are written, published, and marketed, leading to a questioning of biographical authenticity, and an exploration of narrative role of ‘truth’ outside the narrative text itself.

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