Trauma : A Genealogy

by Ruth Leys

Psychic trauma is one of the most frequently invoked ideas in the behavioral sciences and the humanities today. Yet bitter disputes have marked the discussion of trauma ever since it first became an issue in the 1870s, growing even more heated in recent years following official recognition of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

In a book that is bound to ignite controversy, Ruth Leys investigates the history of the concept of trauma. She explores the emergence of multiple personality disorder, Freud's approaches to trauma, medical responses to shellshock and combat fatigue, Sándor Ferenczi's revisions of psychoanalysis, and the mutually reinforcing, often problematic work of certain contemporary neurobiological and postmodernist theorists. Leys argues that the concept of trauma has always been fundamentally unstable, oscillating uncontrollably between two competing models, each of which tends at its limit to collapse into the other.

A powerfully argued work of intellectual history, Trauma will rewrite the terms of future discussion of its subject.

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction, Philosophy, History, Theory, Criticism, Science

336 pages, Paperback

First published June 8, 2000

Reviews

[Jessica (JT) Thelen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good tackling and challenging of Caruth.

[Jonathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are lots of insights in this book, and it’s certainly worth reading for anyone interested in the subject. I didn’t find a big payoff from the central framing, but I got a lot out of some of the specific readings.

[Sarah]

A detailed genealogy of the concept of trauma in modern thought, largely structured around the dichotomy the author perceives between "mimetic" and "anti-mimetic" approaches to trauma. The last 1.5 chapters an extended, usually apt, critique of Caruth for misreadings of Freud, logical inconsistencies, and alarming ethics. Doesn't bear much at all on collective memory, except perhaps for the critique of Caruth.

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, and a landmark in trauma studies. However, Leys seems content to tell us what everyone has done wrong with trauma theory, from Freud to Caruth---with not really indicating what is "right," either.

[Zahra]

For school...

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Spectacular footnotes.