Plumbago: a novella
Files
(Novella)
(Exegesis)
Date
2017
Authors
Wills, Eleanor
Editors
Advisors
Treagus, Mandy
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Type:
Thesis
Citation
Statement of Responsibility
Conference Name
Abstract
My thesis consists of two parts: creative writing in the form of a novella called Plumbago and an exegesis The Aftermath of Trauma: Finding a Voice. Both parts explore the unknowing and the knowing aspects of trauma, asking how we can speak of trauma as having a positive aftermath when its unassimilated nature randomly haunts its victim? The voice as a truth carrier embedded in the traumatic wound is a focus of this work. Plumbago investigates the role the unconscious plays in trauma as part protector, part destroyer of self as well as a source of healing. The protagonist, Rebekah Bentley, is born into a religious cult in suburban Adelaide. Rebekah is forced to live in a bubble of fear, intimidation and absolute control until she finds the courage to break free. Voices from her brother, her workplace and within have a profound effect in enabling her to find a way out of a suffocating environment. The creative work takes an aspect of Caruth’s theory where the unconscious is shown to have a capacity to draw on otherness and voices from either outside of the self or from within speak a truth. This truth is captured by the listening ear to transition into the conscious mind where it directs the self to a place of healing.
School/Discipline
School of Humanities : English and Creative Writing
Dissertation Note
Thesis (MPhil) -- University of Adelaide, School of Humanities, 2017
Provenance
This electronic version is made publicly available by the University of Adelaide in accordance with its open access policy for student theses. Copyright in this thesis remains with the author. This thesis may incorporate third party material which has been used by the author pursuant to Fair Dealing exceptions. If you are the owner of any included third party copyright material you wish to be removed from this electronic version, please complete the take down form located at: http://www.adelaide.edu.au/legals
Description
Vol. 1 [Novella]: Plumbago -- Vol. 2 [Exegesis]: The aftermath of psychical trauma: finding a voice