Index#: 07582
Will Count Towards English MAJOR
Will Count Towards English MINOR
In the Iliad, perhaps the greatest war story ever told, Homer writes: “How can I picture it all? It would take a god to tell the tale.” War is profoundly difficult to convey. It reconfigures nations, separates families, destroys landscapes, and kills in terrifying numbers. These extreme conditions pose a significant challenge to men and women’s ability to communicate—whether soldier, civilian, nurse, or grieving parent. And yet, telling stories of war can be therapeutic for survivors. These stories can also function in honoring the dead and perhaps, as many believe, even promote a future peace. In this honors seminar, we will consider how modern wars are represented across a range of textual and visual media, from diaries and letters, to fiction and poetry, to video games and films.
Drawing together the fields of literary studies, gender studies, history, and cognitive psychology, we will ask such questions as: what are the potential therapeutic functions of writing in war? How have conceptions of heroism changed? How are wars (both past and present) framed in political discourse? Is it ethical to depict war for the purposes of entertainment? Drawing on current research in cognitive psychology and trauma theory, we will begin by examining the poetry and private writing of soldiers and nurses (WWI & II), assessing how individuals represent war’s realities while still in the midst of its chaos. Next, we will study how war is depicted politically, socially, and culturally by examining various presidential speeches, television series (Downton Abby, Band of Brothers), films (Full Metal Jacket, Dunkirk), and videogames (Call of Duty). For the final research paper, students will develop an original argument about war representation and ethics. Possible topics might include war protest songs, soldiers’ tweets, remembrance ceremonies, and/or recruitment tactics.
About Professor Martin
This honors seminar topic stems from my doctoral research at the University of Oxford, as well as from my more recent publications on the various psychological functions of life-writing and representation in war.
My research interests, broadly speaking, encompass First World War literature and life-writing, the languages of trauma and testimony, therapeutic writing, and theories of gender, sexuality, and identity. More specifically, I am keenly interested in the role of composition in extreme and traumatic circumstances; how the act of writing itself—imposing narrative order on chaotic experience—functions in creating, securing, and repairing one’s multiple identities in war—be it a father, a soldier, a mother, or a nurse.
Interdisciplinarity is vital to the pursuit of this research. My interests thus encompass a broad range of critical approaches and theories, including recent developments in cognitive psychology, script theory, trauma theory, and medical humanities.