Exploring Trauma

Abstract

Phillip Sipiora reviews Languages of Trauma, an interdisciplinary collection edited by Peter Leese, Julia Barbara Köhne, and Jason Crouthamel that examines trauma as a central psychological, cultural, and ethical concept across literature, film, history, and the social sciences. Sipiora situates the volume within the long intellectual history of trauma studies, tracing the term’s evolution from physical wound to psychic and cultural injury. The review emphasizes the collection’s commitment to polysemous and cross-disciplinary approaches, highlighting essays that address visual culture, memory, perpetrator trauma, survivor testimony, and cinematic representation. Sipiora gives particular attention to the volume’s engagement with American literature and film, including discussions of writers such as Ernest Hemingway, Philip Roth, and Norman Mailer, as well as filmmakers such as George A. Romero, whose work is read as forging new vocabularies for collective and individual trauma. The review ultimately presents Languages of Trauma as a significant scholarly intervention that expands the conceptual and ethical horizons of trauma studies by insisting on multiplicity, historical depth, and methodological innovation.