Literary Writing on Traumatic Memories: A Comparison of Individual Narratives and Historical Reconstruction in Chinese and American War Novels

Abstract

In the academic context where trauma theory and memory studies have gained prominence, Chinese and American war novels have shifted towards a comparative space of trauma memory writing. This paper takes contemporary Chinese war novels and American war novels of the Vietnam War as research subjects, and approaches the topic from three dimensions: trauma narrative, memory reconstruction, and historical reflection. It systematically compares the similarities and differences in the historical reconstruction of individual narratives in the war novels of the two countries. It is impossible to cover all the works completely. The research reveals that Chinese war novels, through the writing of individual traumatic memories, complete the de-sacralization reflection of war trauma in the grand historical narrative, while American war novels present through individual psychological trauma, achieving the questioning and criticism of the justice of war in historical reconstruction. Such research provides strong support for trauma studies.

https://doi.org/10.65281/905218