Early Modern Trauma: Europe and the Atlantic World (Early Modern Cultural Studies)

The term __trauma__ refers to a wound or rupture that disorients, causing suffering and fear. Trauma theory has been heavily shaped by responses to modern catastrophes, and as such trauma is often seen as inherently linked to modernity. Yet psychological and cultural trauma as a result of distressing or disturbing experiences is a human phenomenon that has been recorded across time and cultures. The long seventeenth century (1598–1715) has been described as a period of almost continuous warfare, and the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries saw the development of modern slavery, colonialism, and nationalism, and witnessed plagues, floods, and significant sociopolitical, economic, and religious transformation. In __Early Modern Trauma__ editors Erin Peters and Cynthia Richards present a variety of ways early modern contemporaries understood and narrated their experiences. Studying accounts left by those who experienced extreme events increases our understanding of the contexts in which traumatic experiences have been constructed and interpreted over time and broadens our understanding of trauma theory beyond the contemporary Euro-American context while giving invaluable insights into some of the most pressing issues of today. Introduction. Reading historical trauma : moving backwards to move forward / Erin Peters and Cynthia Richards -- Devastated nature : the emotions of natural world catastrophe in sixteenth-century France / Susan Broomhall -- Historicizing rape trauma : identification with the aggressor in early modern humoral theory and The rape of Lucrece (1594) / Zachariah Long -- The trauma of self : Hannah Allen and seventeenth-century women's spiritual writing / Amelia Zurcher -- "Wee perish with hunger helpe us" : early modern ciphering and the expressions of trauma / Katherine Ellison -- Soliciting sympathy : the search for psychological trauma in seventeenth-century English Civil War maimed soldiers' petitions / Ismini Pells -- Hans Sloane and the melancholy slave / Peter Walmsley -- Representations of loss and recovery in Unca Eliza Winkfield's The female American / Melissa Antonucci -- Stories of trauma in early modern Ireland / Eamon Darcy -- Trauma, psychological coercion, and slaves who love their masters : the case of William Okeley / Adam R. Beach -- Imperfect enjoyments and female disappointments : understanding trauma in Aphra Behn's "The disappointment" and in her Account of the death of a royal slave / Cynthia Richards -- Trauma, exile, and the birth of Jacobitism / Erin Peters -- Tragic trauma? Remorse, repetition, and the Orestes myth / Joseph Harris -- Trauma, ritual, and the temporality of war in George Farquhar's The recruiting officer / Tamar LeRoy -- For those who did not see it : transgenerational trauma and postmemory in Defoe's A journal of the plague year / Andreas K.E. Mueller -- Afterword. Early modern trauma and the generation of satire / Melinda Rabb The term trauma refers to a wound or rupture thatdisorients, causing suffering and fear. Trauma theory has beenheavily shaped by responses to modern catastrophes, and as suchtrauma is often seen as inherently linked to modernity. Yetpsychological and cultural trauma as a result of distressing ordisturbing experiences is a human phenomenon that has been recordedacross time and cultures. The long seventeenth century (1598-1715)has been described as a period of almost continuous warfare, andthe sixteenth to eighteenth centuries saw the development of modernslavery, colonialism, and nationalism, and witnessed plagues,floods, and significant sociopolitical, economic, and religioustransformation. In Early Modern Trauma editors Erin Petersand Cynthia Richards present a variety of ways early moderncontemporaries understood and narrated their experiences. Studyingaccounts left by those who experienced extreme events increases ourunderstanding of the contexts in which traumatic experiences havebeen constructed and interpreted over time and broadens ourunderstanding of trauma theory beyond the contemporaryEuro-American context while giving invaluable insights into some ofthe most pressing issues of today Cover Title Page Copyright Page Contents List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Reading Historical Trauma Part 1 1. Devastated Nature 2. Historicizing Rape Trauma 3. The Trauma of Self 4. Early Modern Ciphering and the Expression of Trauma 5. Soliciting Sympathy 6. Hans Sloane and the Melancholy Slave 7. Representations of Loss and Recovery in Unca Eliza Winkfield’s The Female American Part 2 8. Stories of Trauma in Early Modern Ireland 9. Trauma, Psychological Coercion, and Slaves Who Love Their Masters 10. Imperfect Enjoyments and Female Disappointments 11. Cultural Trauma, Exile, and the Birth of Jacobitism 12. Tragic Trauma? 13. Trauma, Ritual, and the Temporality of War in George Farquhar’s The Recruiting Officer 14. For Those Who Did Not See It Afterword Contributors Index "With contributions by established experts in the fields of history, language, and literature, as well as early career scholars, Early Modern Trauma explores what trauma-seen through an analytical lens-can reveal about the early modern period and, conversely, what conceptualizations of psychological trauma from the early modern period can tell us about trauma theory itself"-- Provided by publisher