The Mailer Review/Volume 4, 2010/Effects of Trauma on the Narrative Structures of Across the River and Into the Trees and The Naked and the Dead: Difference between revisions
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the novel, the theme of the effects of drawing back into oneself after opening up to others. Seigel’s perspective on the use of “naked” is furthered if coupled with the idea that this receding of openness, of nakedness, occurs in the acts that lead to death in the structure of the narrative {{sfn|Seigel|1974|p=295}}. The coupling of the terms “naked” with “dead” produces a sense of unified disjuncture in conjunction to the work’s subject and structure. The narrative structure of the work reflects a sense of unified disjuncture in the jostling occurring between point of view perspective and structure operating in the novel. The jostling between exteriority and interiority is illustrated by the “time machine” passages. | the novel, the theme of the effects of drawing back into oneself after opening up to others. Seigel’s perspective on the use of “naked” is furthered if coupled with the idea that this receding of openness, of nakedness, occurs in the acts that lead to death in the structure of the narrative {{sfn|Seigel|1974|p=295}}. The coupling of the terms “naked” with “dead” produces a sense of unified disjuncture in conjunction to the work’s subject and structure. The narrative structure of the work reflects a sense of unified disjuncture in the jostling occurring between point of view perspective and structure operating in the novel. The jostling between exteriority and interiority is illustrated by the “time machine” passages. | ||
Hemingway’s title selection also references a desire to explore the effects of war and trauma on the structure of the narrative.{{efn| Cantwell is not simply concerned with the experience (i.e. Being in it) nor is he merely concerned with thinking about the experience. This protagonist oscillates between the two representations creating the idea, as E.M. Halliday expresses, that external action is inadequate to internal meaning. In the narrative, Cantwell’s memories and understanding of the effects of war are more privileged then his actual experiences. A Cantwell figure relies on the importance of memory to make sense of his world. This character type is a post-war protagonist who has no choice but to assume a different level of narrative subjectivity when constructing meaning.}} Hemingway’s paraphrase of General Stonewall Jackson’s last words, in the title of the ''ARIT'', reflects on the question posed at the beginning of this piece: how does a body of literature deal with subjects who are speaking from an abject position of trauma? Civil War leader Stonewall Jackson, who upon death observes that, “Let us cross over the river, and rest under the shade of the | Hemingway’s title selection also references a desire to explore the effects of war and trauma on the structure of the narrative.{{efn| Cantwell is not simply concerned with the experience (i.e. Being in it) nor is he merely concerned with thinking about the experience. This protagonist oscillates between the two representations creating the idea, as E.M. Halliday expresses, that external action is inadequate to internal meaning. In the narrative, Cantwell’s memories and understanding of the effects of war are more privileged then his actual experiences. A Cantwell figure relies on the importance of memory to make sense of his world. This character type is a post-war protagonist who has no choice but to assume a different level of narrative subjectivity when constructing meaning.}} Hemingway’s paraphrase of General Stonewall Jackson’s last words, in the title of the ''ARIT'', reflects on the question posed at the beginning of this piece: how does a body of literature deal with subjects who are speaking from an abject position of trauma? Civil War leader Stonewall Jackson, who upon death observes that, “Let us cross over the river, and rest under the shade of the trees.” {{sfn|Cooke|1876|p=485}} {{efn|On Saturday, May 2nd, 1863 Jackson was wounded at the battle of Chancellorsville. He was shot through the left upper arm just beneath the shoulder. The humerus was fractured—the rachial artery was injured. He bled profusely. A second bullet entered the lateral left upper forearm and exited diagonally from the medial lower third of the forearm. A third bullet struck his right hand fracturing the second and third metacarpal bones and lodged beneath the skin on the back of his hand. These wounds would lead to his left arm being amputated, and his living for eight days. On the following Sunday, at 1:30 PM, Dr. McGuire noted momentary consciousness and told him he had but two hours to live. Jackson whispered, "Very good. It’s all right." He declined brandy and water and said, "It will only delay my departure and do no good. I want to preserve my mind to the last.” Dr. McGuire states his mind began to fail and wander. He talked as if giving commands on the battlefield—then he was at the mess table talking to his staff—now with his wife and child—now at prayers with his military family. A few moments before he died, he ordered A.P. Hill to prepare for action. “Pass the infantry to the front rapidly. Tell Major Hawks”—then stopped. Presently he smiled and said with apparent relief, "Let's us cross over the river and rest under the shade of the trees” and then seemingly in peace he died (“Ernest”).}} Hemingway’s paraphrase of Jackson’s last words removes the communal “us” and the restorative “rest.” As such, Hemingway’s title highlights a different presentation of narrative subjectivity and objectivity from the intention suggested by Jackson on his deathbed: a representation of point of view that in Hemingway’s application does not involve traditional first- or third-person narrative structures. Instead, Hemingway’s narrative speaks not from the objective “you” or the subjective “I” but instead from a more abjective narrative perspective. Thus, Hemingway’s title intimates a focus on the giving of voice to a previously silenced experience and point of view of war and trauma inherent in not only the subject but, more important, in the structure of the novel. | ||
Hemingway’s and Mailer’s titles suggests another tangent to the previous question of how a body of literature speaks from a position of trauma: why does a body of literature desire to speak from this previously-silenced abject position. Twentieth century war narratives differ from those following the Civil War. For Craig Warren, the constraints of the Victorian narrative structure in correspondence with codes of social propriety limit the earlier narratives that choose war and trauma as their subjects. The limitations of previous era’s narrative structures first appearing following the Civil War betray a silence—a narrative gap—that authors following the World Wars address as they attempt to generate stories of and from the dark tragedy and | Hemingway’s and Mailer’s titles suggests another tangent to the previous question of how a body of literature speaks from a position of trauma: why does a body of literature desire to speak from this previously-silenced abject position. Twentieth century war narratives differ from those following the Civil War. For Craig Warren, the constraints of the Victorian narrative structure in correspondence with codes of social propriety limit the earlier narratives that choose war and trauma as their subjects. The limitations of previous era’s narrative structures first appearing following the Civil War betray a silence—a narrative gap—that authors following the World Wars address as they attempt to generate stories of and from the dark tragedy and | ||