I am looking for three or more major 20th-century novels, in English,
in which a character "represses" the memory of a traumatic event (such
as, for example, childhood abuse, death of a loved one, etc.) such
that the character is literally unable to remember the event after it
has happened, and where that character "recovers" the memory of that
traumatic event at a later point in the plot. Please briefly explain
what happens in the work in question (the character who "represses"
the memory, what traumatic experience is "repressed," and how and when
the character "recovers" the memory during the course of the plot).
This query is a variant on one that I posed earlier on Google answers,
looking for cases of "repressed" and "recovered" memory appearing
before 1800. It has proven extremely difficult for people to find
cases before 1800, but I suspect that it will be quite easy to find
cases in the 20th century. Below, I reproduce the text of my earlier
Google question, because it specifies the exact criteria for a case of
"repressed" and "recovered" memory, and provides an example of a
qualifying case from a novel just prior to the 20th-century (Kipling's
Captains Courageous). Please read the text of my earlier question
below to satisfy yourself that any cases that you found meet my
criteria.
I have only one other requirement: the novel cannot be a story that
was written exclusively as a screenplay for a Hollywood movie.
Obviously, there are many Hollywood movies in which individuals
"recover supposedly "repressed" memories, such as, for example, Batman
Forever, Prince of Tides, the Butterfly Effect, etc. The screenplays
for such movies do not qualify. However, I am happy to accept a novel
that was ultimately made into a Hollywood movie, divided that it was
not written specifically as a screenplay for a movie in the first
place.
Please do not hesitate to get in touch with me if you would like any
clarifications.
-------------------------------------
To qualify as a bona fide case, the individual described in the work must:
1) Experience a severe trauma (abuse, sexual assault, a near-death
experience, witnessing the death of a loved one, etc.).
2) Develop amnesia for that trauma for a period of months or years
afterwards (i.e. be clearly unable to remember the traumatic event as
opposed to merely trying not to think about the event, or trying to
keep the event out of one's mind).
3) Experience amnesia that cannot be accounted for by biological
factors such as a) early childhood amnesia -- in which the individual
was under the age of five at the time that trauma occurred, or b)
brain impairment -- such as an individual who was knocked unconscious,
or was drunk with alcohol, at the time of the trauma.
4) Recover the lost memory of the event at some later time in the
individual's life, even though the individual has previously been
unable to access the memory.
For a little more detail, the idea of "repressed memory" or
"dissociative amnesia," as it is sometimes also known, refers to the
theory that an individual could experience a serious traumatic event
-- a trauma so serious that it would normally seem unforgettable --
and then develop amnesia for that event (i.e. be literally unable to
remember the event) for months or years afterwards, only to ultimately
recover the lost memory at some point later in life. For example, in
modern novels or screenplays, an individual may experience childhood
abuse, or an assault, or a rape, and then have amnesia for the event
for years afterwards -- almost as if the mind were attempting to
protect the individual against the traumatic memory. Then, the
individual may "recover" the "repressed memory" years later, perhaps
at a moment fraught with considerable emotion.
A literary example that fulfills all of the above criteria is Penn, in
Rudyard Kipling's novel, Captains Courageous, who develops complete
amnesia or for having lost his entire family in a tragic flood. He
later goes to work as a fisherman on a Grand Banks schooner. On one
occasion, after a tragic collision between an ocean liner and another
schooner at sea, Penn suddenly recovers his lost memory of the flood
and the death of his family, and recounts the story to other members
of the crew.
Note, however, that Captains Courageous appeared in 1896; I am seeking
a comparable example of "repressed memory" in a work prior to 1800. |
Request for Question Clarification by
pafalafa-ga
on
23 Mar 2006 20:04 PST
Hello Dr P.
I hope someone can get you the answers you need for your current set of questions.
I just wanted to inject a note here, to let you know I came across a
very compelling, very old story of memory loss and recovery that
should be of interest to you.
I haven't read it through in enough detail to know for sure how
on-target it is, but it certainly seems closer than anything I've yet
come across from the historical materials.
The story is:
http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00litlinks/shakuntala_jones/
SACONTALÁ;
OR, T H E F A T A L R I N G :
AN INDIAN DRAMA
TRANSLATED FROM THE
ORIGINAL SANSCRIT AND PRACRIT.
by Sir William Jones (1789)
and concerns a king who loses, then recovers, his memory about his
love for some gal (like I said, I just skimmed...). There's magic
involved, moreso than trauma, I think. Still...
Act Six is the memory recovery:
-----
http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00litlinks/shakuntala_jones/06_act.html
Cham. Then I have little to add. ---When the king's memory was
restored, by the sight of his gem, he instantly exclaimed: "Yes, the
incomparable Sacontalá is my lawful wife; and when I rejected her, I
had lost my reason." He showed strong marks of extreme affliction and
penitence; and from that moment he has abhorred the pleasures of life.
No longer does he exert his respectable talents from day to day for
the good of his people: he prolongs his nights without closing his
eyes, perpetually rolling on the edge of his couch; and when he rises,
he pronounces not one sentence aptly; mistaking the names of the women
in his apartments, and through distraction, calling each of them
Sacontalá: then he sits abashed, with his head longs bent on his
knees.
-----
A brief synopsis of the play is here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Recognition_of_Sakuntala
The Recognition of Sakuntala
Just thought you'd like to know...
paf
|
Clarification of Question by
harrisonpope-ga
on
24 Mar 2006 07:51 PST
Dear Paf,
Yes, I am aware of the dramatic masterpiece, Shakuntala (that's the
way it's usually transliterated into English from Sanskrit), from the
fourth century Sanskrit poet Kalidasa. Indeed, two previous
respondents have called the story to my attention in response to my
challenge on various web sites. In the play, King Dushyanta develops
amnesia of his love of, and betrothal to, the beautiful maiden
Shakuntala as result of a curse -- and he recovers the memory only
when he sees a ring with a gem in it. Of all of the scores of
examples that have come through to me in response to my search for
"repressed memory" prior to 1800, this one might be the closest to a
"near miss," but it is clearly not "repressed memory" as the concept
is presented today -- because the king is cursed to forget a wonderful
and beautiful thing, rather than a traumatic event.
Now, my critics might respond that Kalidasa couldn't have even come up
with this dramatic device unless he was familiar with the idea that
people could "repress" and "recover" a memory -- and that I am
"setting the bar too high" by insisting specifically on a case of
"repression" of a traumatic event. But the response to that criticism
is straightforward: if "repressed memory" were a natural psychological
process -- an innate capacity of the brain that people have always
possessed -- then millions of people in literate societies over the
centuries would have witnessed or experienced it. Therefore,
somewhere, throughout the world's literature in the millennia prior to
1800, one would find descriptions of simple, ordinary, straightforward
"repressed memory" for a traumatic event, without having to settle for
"near misses" that don't involve trauma, or having to settle for mere
speculations that Kalidasa would have to have known about "repressed
memory" in order to write the play.
By the way, I think that the modern translation by Arthur Ryder may be
the best; the reference is:
Kalidasa. Abhijnana Sakuntalam (Shakuntala). (Circa fourth century
A.D.) Translated by Ryder AW. New York: EP Dutton & Co. 1914;
available online at: www.sacred-texts.com/hin/sha
Sorry for such a verbose response -- as you can see, I'm beginning to
get obsessed with this stuff. Perhaps a short course of Prozac would
do me some good....
Harrison G. Pope Jr., M.D.
|
