Somatic Translations and (Auto)creations Trauma and Affect in Second Generation in A Little Annihilation by Anna Janko and Helen Epstein’s works

Abstract

Trauma, understood as a wound or a symptom, leaves a mark of the past experiences, but is also violence directed at the observer (G. Deleuze). The notion which allows to link the traumatic past and marked present is epigenetic memory. It manifests itself through the somatic reactions and it might be interpreted as traces of affective intensity. Janko’s A Little Annihilation and Epstein’s family saga are texts illustrating the affective bond which allows daughters to take a position of the witness, but also tends to be strong enough to threaten their subjectivity. The symptoms experienced by the authors might be linked to their mothers’ past, but they are deprived of narrative. Epstein’s and Janko’s works allow not only to show the bodily dimension of Marianne Hirsch’s concept of postmemory, but also to draw a boundary between the memory and autocreation. To distinguish between these two phenomena, it is vital to analyse different strategies employed by the authors to restrain the affective intensity using the notions of identification and empathic resettlement (D. LaCapra) to determine whether they can recount their mothers’ past without appropriation, as in H. Epstein’s case, or maybe, like A. Janko, they are unable to resist the temptation of posttraumatic acting-out ( J. Bennett).