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About the author and blogger ...

Anne Goodwin’s drive to understand what makes people tick led to a career in clinical psychology. That same curiosity now powers her fiction.
A prize-winning short-story writer, she has published three novels and a short story collection with small independent press, Inspired Quill. Her debut novel, Sugar and Snails, was shortlisted for the 2016 Polari First Book Prize.
Away from her desk, Anne guides book-loving walkers through the Derbyshire landscape that inspired Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre.
Subscribers to her newsletter can download a free e-book of award-winning short stories.

TELL ME MORE

Transgenerational trauma in novels by Jenna Blum, Lionel Shriver and Evie Wyld

30/6/2014

17 Comments

 
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In a recent post, I explored how the experience of terror and trauma can have lasting repercussions for the individual concerned. I’m also interested, both as a reader and writer, in how the impact can reverberate across the generations. Would a parent’s exposure to unspeakable horrors make them overprotective towards their own children? Would the struggle for survival render them so emotionally blunted they’re unable to give the children the love they need? Would their pleasure in the easier life they’ve created for their children be marred by envy?

The issue crops up in my short story, Elementary Mechanics:

He wonders if it's an indication of their triumph or failure as parents that Pollyanna thinks prison would bring a spark of excitement into her life.  That they've shielded her so completely from their own nightmares that she hardly knows who her mother is.

and it’s also one of the themes of Jenna Blum’s debut novel, Those Who Save Us. Anna Schlemmer has never been a popular member of the rural Minnesota community to which she came to live, with her three-year-old daughter, Trudy, after the end of the Second World War. Now a middle-aged historian, Trudy has always been frustrated at her mother’s refusal to talk about her previous life in Nazi Germany. Yet Anna’s emotional distance from both her daughter and her neighbours becomes more understandable as we discover the lengths to which she had to go to ensure their survival.  (Note: Jenna Blum was so dedicated to getting under Anna’s skin that she dressed as her character would have done while writing this novel.)

Lionel Shriver’s We Need to Talk about Kevin is concerned with a mother-child relationship that is even more fraught. The debate among readers about the extent to which Eva can be considered culpable in raising a child who commits such a horrific crime has a tendency to mask the equally interesting question of the impact of transgenerational trauma on the character of Eva herself. Kevin rejects his half Armenian background, yet the high-school killings mirror another massacre, the 1915 Armenian genocide that history has largely overlooked. In the novel, Eva’s mother becomes agoraphobic and withdrawn; Eva, an ardent traveller, is equally fearful of being trapped at home. Both these women, apparent polar opposites, can be said to be living the legacy of a collective trauma. This theme is eloquently explored in a conversation between Lionel Shriver the psychotherapist Angela Joyce.

Evie Wyld’s debut novel, After the Fire, a Still Small Voice, is about the impact of war on men across three generations.  As a teenager, Leon holds together the family business when his father volunteers to fight in the Korean War.  On his return, his father is unable to resume his prewar role and, when Leon himself is called up to fight in Vietnam, he puts a note on the shop door: Closed for the Time Being.  A generation later, his own son, Frank, leaves a violent relationship, and moves to a shack previously owned by his grandparents on the Queensland coast.  He wants to make new start, to shrug off the legacy of conflict with his father, but he lacks the internal resources to create a different kind of life.

The latest prompt from Charli Mills over on the Carrot Ranch is to write a story in exactly 99 words that considers history, near or far. My contribution hinges on aspects of family history that can’t easily be spoken about:

My sister dived into the shrubbery. “She’ll never look for us here.”
I bit my lip. “But it’s cheating.”
Across the park, Mum was calling: “Coming, ready or not!”
She wasn’t like the other mothers, too busy to chat or play. Mum bubbled with stories of her carefree childhood at the big house, of games of Hide and Seek with handsome stable boys.
“Come on!” My sister grabbed my hand from between the leaves, a purple flower crowning her head like a giant bow. Sick rose to my throat. Mum hated rhododendrons the way I hated geometry and spinach.


Regular readers might recognise this as another angle on (prequel to?) an earlier flash, and I’m not sure how well the story works without this context. If you’re interested, you’ll also find a photo of my garden rhododendrons in that post!

I welcome your feedback. Do you think the trauma of one generation can be passed on to the next?  If you’ve read any of these novels, what’s your view on the importance of this theme?

Thanks for reading. I'd love to know what you think. If you've enjoyed this post, you might like to sign up via the sidebar for regular email updates and/or my quarterly Newsletter.
17 Comments
geoff link
30/6/2014 08:14:01 am

Always a pleasure when your posts pop into my inbox, Anne. First things first, this stands alone as a juicy little flash with a neat twist. As always more questions tumble as the flash develops. And what is doubly enjoyable is the fact that, when we recall the previous flash we realise the extent of those questions and want to go deeper still. I must add the two books (I've read the Shriver) you mention. This blogging lark has reduced my reading time and increased my list of things to read... Hey ho....

Reply
Annecdotist
2/7/2014 07:12:00 am

Thanks for your feedback, Geoff. I really wasn't sure if this were a stand-alone flash,but it was the only thing I had to offer! Your comment on blogging bringing you more to read and less time to do so made me smile. It certainly rings true for me.

Reply
Charli Mills link
30/6/2014 08:36:24 pm

Coming over to your place to read is becoming a treat. Not to put pressure on you, but keep it up! Your ability to connect reflections to books, your own fiction and the prompt is amazing. I'm interested in generational trauma and can say I know first-hand that my father is the polar opposite of his father, yet the two still suffer from shame. Also, I once had a discussion with a Dakota elder who explained how he thinks his tribe suffers from generational PTSD and he could take me to the one incident that caused it. It was a war between settlers, Dakota and the Minnesota Calvary. He wanted to meet a descendant of one of the immigrant families who had ancestors killed during that time to bridge a healing. Whether its within cultures or families, there does exist connections. But do we know how those connection will play out? Perhaps that is where choice enters. As to your flash, another great piece of writing! I agree with Geoff that it stands upon its own merit, but when I went back to read the earlier flash I now question the motives of the sister. It almost as if she is trying to traumatize her mother--here, by hiding in the rhododendrons, and in the previous flash by taking her back to the manor of her childhood. But I can empathize with the sister! We learn that the mother bubbles with stories, but we doubt she talks of the trauma. The sister wants to burst that bubble because it is false joy. The sister wants truth. Or, that's what I'm thinking! It's becoming a complex story.

Reply
Annecdotist
2/7/2014 07:21:09 am

Thanks for the feedback, Charli. Very kind, when I see you doing the very thing so admirably on your own blog. I'll do my best to keep up as long as I'm getting such great comments from our blogging community ;).
Interesting story about the Dakota elder; I think it must help if that trauma is at least recognised. It reminds me of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Hearings.
Regarding choice, I agree with Norah that a particular pattern of experience might prevent us from seeing other options. It's interesting what you say about your father and grandfather, being different but with a common emotional core. I think sometimes parents do recognise a difficulty and strive to overcome it, but sometimes this can lead to enacting the same problem in a different way. It can be very difficult to get hold of the depth of what's wrong.
I love your reading of my flash: I think the sisters have that very sense of something wrong but are deeply disturbed by it without coming very near to understanding it. I think that draws them into different ways of trying to confront it, a bit like picking at a scab.
Perhaps we'll learn more about their motivations with your next prompt! Who knows?

Reply
Charli Mills
3/7/2014 08:20:00 pm

Great discussion thread!

Lisa Reiter link
1/7/2014 05:01:35 am

I am a mother who has been through that trauma. I don't think I'm overprotective, more rather intense in my parenting. There's the subconscious threat that my parenting must be complete and absolute in case I'm not here soon! There are benefits to that as I actively seek opportunities for M and run around playing tigress to anyone standing in his way! -But carefree times are few and far between because I suffer with a constant urgency to be doing something 'productive'!

Reply
Annecdotist
2/7/2014 07:25:14 am

Thanks for sharing, Lisa. That's an entirely understandable sense of pressure to try to fit everything in. But all parents will leave gaps, things that couldn't be done for all kinds of reasons. I like thinking of you as the tiger but you need to go easy on yourself too.

Reply
Norah Colvin link
1/7/2014 06:43:30 am

Hi Anne, Another great post. Well done! It was good to revisit "Elementary Mechanics". The issues that you discuss in this post are certainly brought out in that story. I think it clearly shows the trauma passed on from one generation to another. I have definitely seen evidence of 'trauma' passed on in situations close to me. I agree with both you and Charli that choice comes in to play and can be used to break the cycle. However those choices are not always easy and it requires an ability to see outside the 'conditioning' that can sometimes blind one to other possibilities, opportunities and 'truths'.
I enjoyed your flash which raised lots of questions, as Geoff has said. But I love the interpretations that Charli suggested. Lisa has her own reasons for parenting as she does, and I hope that I have started a positive cycle of parenting in my family. Watching my son and his partner interact with their two children gives me enormous pleasure and hope for the future.

Reply
Norah Colvin
1/7/2014 06:44:54 am

And I must say it was good to revisit the article about writing while dressed as your characters - is there a story about a pyjama party coming up?

Reply
Annecdotist
2/7/2014 07:32:20 am

Thank you, Norah. I agree with you about choice. I'm trying to remember if this theme, or something related, came up in Stephen Grosz's book? I think we can overestimate how much choice we actually have: I'm reminded of those psychology experiments about consumer choice, which showed our decisions were based on the positioning of objects more than personal preference. I think all we can do is make the best of what we are aware of. It's encouraging that, in your family, you see "improvements" down the generations.
And thanks for revisiting that other article (as well as your comments that eventually got published on that blog). Can't think of anything yet about a pyjama party (despite having a photo ready for it) although interestingly it's the theme of Lisa's memoir challenge. Alas, I seem to be flunking there; fiction suits me much better.

Reply
Norah Colvin link
6/7/2014 03:20:42 am

There probably was something in Stephen Grosz's book - there was so much! I can't recall precisely now. You're definitely not flunking. I've chickened out. We each chose our own genre. At the moment my is non-fiction!

Annecdotist
7/7/2014 04:48:31 am

Re my reference to The Examined Life, must have been my unconscious nagging me to take another look, because there's a whole chapter on Why parents envy their children, which would have been perfect for my introduction to these novels. Maybe next time, I wouldn't be surprised if I return to this theme:
http://annegoodwin.weebly.com/annecdotal/7-reasons-why-lovers-of-fiction-should-read-the-examined-life-by-stephen-grosz

Lori Schafer link
3/7/2014 10:58:32 pm

Absolutely I believe in transgenerational trauma, especially on a cultural level. The example that comes most readily to mind is World War I and World War II, the second being an almost direct consequence of the first. In fact, I firmly that believe that American foreign policy over the last seventy years has been guided by this phenomenon. I think this is why the U.S. feels compelled to intervene in foreign conflicts even when they're not strictly American affairs, because no one has quite forgotten what happened when the world sat by too long watching Hitler take over Europe. And I also think this is why we're seeing another shift towards isolationism now, precisely because the WWII generation is dying out. And even their children, the Baby Boomers, will soon no longer be ranked among our leaders, which means the next generation of rulers will be those whose experience of war has been in the Gulf - much more questionable conflicts. Different generation, different trauma. But the same phenomenon, and likely to lead to similar consequences in national belief and behavior.

Reply
Annecdotist
4/7/2014 05:12:40 am

How interesting, Lori, I hadn't really thought through so deeply how it would impact on the whole culture. But of course! I've just been reading The Undertaking by Audrey Magee featuring the Second World War from the German perspective and the impact of their humiliation in the first is well represented.

Reply
Norah Colvin link
6/7/2014 03:15:40 am

Lisa, I find your analysis of American intervention interesting. I hadn't thought of that before. I also hadn't thought about the next generation of rulers in quite the same way, though have realized that what influences their thinking about the world is very different from what shaped the thinking of those who grew up with a 'real' threat of another world war. Thanks for a different perspective.

Reply
Norah Colvin link
6/7/2014 03:18:27 am

Sorry. That reply was to Lori, not Lisa!

Annecdotist
7/7/2014 04:36:04 am

Wrong name, right place in the thread, thanks for popping back again, Norah. :)




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