Narratives can help us make sense of trauma – but what if these trauma narratives do not fit into preconceived structures of storytelling? Nora Parr joins me to speak about the role of narrative in trauma, in mental health and in understanding national, cultural and individual identity construction. Nora talks about how Palestinian literature forges its own narratives, why Palestinian literary history has so often been made invisible, and what genre conventions have to do with all of this.Learn more about Nora’s work by following @noraehp on Instagram!References:Novel Palestine: Nation through the Works of Ibrahim Nasrallah (2023) by Nora ParrSusan LanserNarrative Conference (ISSN)https://www.thenarrativesociety.org/2024-conference-1The Palestine Trauma Centrehttps://www.palestinetraumacentre.uk/NakbaRoad to Beersheva by Ethel Mannin (to see how some Arab critics received her work see this translation in the Journal of Arabic Literature https://doi.org/10.1163/1570064x-12341510)Bab al-Shams (trans. as Gate of the Sun) by Elias KhouryChildren of the Ghetto serieshttps://rayaagency.org/book-author/khoury-elias/Don’t Look Left: Diary of a Genocide by Atef Abu Saif, translated and published by Comma Press in ManchesterEllipses (the first instance that really got Nora thinking is addressed in chapter 4 of the book Novel Palestine, page 77 has an image of the ellipses in question!) https://luminosoa.org/site/books/10.1525/luminos.168/read/?loc=001.xhtmlThis article looks the problem of ‘eloquent silence’ from a different angle. https://archiv.ub.uni-marburg.de/ep/0003/2018/229/7792/Minor Detail by Adania ShibliJ.M. Coetzee (writing on this is in a forthcoming chapter in Teaching Politically from Fordham Uni press, eds May Hawwas and Bruce Robbins)https://www.gazapassages.com/https://www.instagram.com/wizard_bisan1/https://www.instagram.com/motaz_azaiza/https://www.instagram.com/omarherzshow/The Tale of a Wall by Nasser Abu SrourMaya Abu Al-Hayat Memory of Forgetfulness by Mahmoud DarwishMaria SulimmaTrees for the Absentees by Ahlam BsharatRights4Timehttps://rights4time.com/nora-parr/Questions you should be able to respond to after listening:
Throughout the podcast, Nora mentions how genre and genre expectations (for YA literature, science fiction, and serial narratives, for example) impact how we perceive narratives. Do you have an example for this?
What does Nora say about the temporal structure of trauma and storytelling?
What might the study of narrative have to do with mental health?
Which narratives can social media convey about everyday life in Gaza? Which examples does Nora give?
How willing are you to engage with narratives that are uncomfortable?
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