Psychoanalytic notes on trauma and Sebald Austerlitz’s novel

Journal title SETTING
Author/s Paola Capozzi, Giuseppe Craparo
Publishing Year 2024 Issue 2023/46
Language Italian Pages 18 P. 73-90 File size 314 KB
DOI 10.3280/SET2023-046004
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It is now recognized that psychological trauma causes a more or less severe disorganization of psychological functions, depending on the impairment of the ability to mentalize and regulate affects. In traumatized individuals, traumatic memories remain in their minds and bodies as unassimilated contents dissociated from other mental functions. After reviewing the seminal contributions of Freud and Breuer, Janet, and contemporary authors (e.g., van der Kolk, van der Hart, Nijenhuis, and Meares) we propose a reading of W. G. Sebald’s novel Austerlitz (2001) according to a comprehensive psychoanalytic approach that takes into account the roles of trauma and dissociation. We want to show how the writer’s narrative confirms the most recent insights into the dynamics of trauma in our discipline.

Keywords: Psychoanalysis, Trauma, Dissociation, Austerlitz

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Paola Capozzi, Giuseppe Craparo, Note psicoanalitiche sul trauma e sul romanzo di Sebald Austerlitz in "SETTING" 46/2023, pp 73-90, DOI: 10.3280/SET2023-046004