The Structural Trauma of Western Culture

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xxiii

   PDF

2. The Sources of Western Trauma: From the Akeda of Isaac to Kafka

   • Yochai Ataria

   Pages 1-19

3. Toward Post-Humanity: A Literary Consideration

   • Yochai Ataria

   Pages 21-43

4. A Serious Man

   • Yochai Ataria

   Pages 45-62

5. The Crisis of Manhood

   • Yochai Ataria

   Pages 63-71

6. The New God of Anarchy

   • Yochai Ataria

   Pages 73-83

7. The Body in the Postmodern Era: A View from Captivity

   • Yochai Ataria

   Pages 85-97

8. K.’s Fatalistic World

   • Yochai Ataria

   Pages 99-118

9. This is the End: A World of Silence

   • Yochai Ataria

   Pages 119-138

10. Techno Rather than Guns

    • Yochai Ataria

    Pages 139-161

11. Culture-Trauma: Some Critical Remarks

    • Yochai Ataria

    Pages 163-181

12. Back Matter

    Pages 183-201

    PDF

This book describes the diverse manifestations of trauma and the ways in which trauma has shaped—and dismantled—our culture. Yochai Ataria describes how we are addicted to trauma and have become both its avid producers and consumers. Consequently, the culture in which we live has become posttraumatic in the deepest sense. This is apparent in the products that have shaped and continue to shape Western culture, ranging from the biblical sacrifice of Isaac to Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now. Ataria exposes the primary attributes of this so-called posttraumatic culture: sacrifice through action, an uncontrolled lust for blood, an inability to speak and describe things in words, a sense of foulness and alienation, emotional death, imperviousness, separation, and an overwhelming sense of exile. 

• Psychology
• Trauma Studies
• Trauma and Culture
• Literature and Trauma
• Western Culture
• Monotheism
• Trauma and Film
• Representation and Trauma
• Post-traumatic Growth

“In this fascinating and provocative work, Yochai Ataria builds on research going back to Freud, Nietzsche, and the Frankfurt School; and into post-structuralism and the posthuman (Zizek and more, including trauma theory). He carves out, in the process, a new vision of the embedded nature of trauma and culture, arguing that the two are ultimately inseparable. In a striking metaphor, he describes the traumatic event as a black hole—an axis around which the entire world revolves. Select literary and film analyses provide evidence in support of Ataria’s views, which include theorizing dance and music as potential paths for trauma to pass through. The book is a tour de force that is essential reading both for trauma scholars and the general public.” (Elizabeth Kaplan, Distinguished Professor of English and Cultural Analysis and Theory, Stony Brook University, USA)

“This book, focusing on the nature of Western Culture as posttraumatic is both unique and innovative. Its uniqueness stems from Ataria’s main observation that our culture is a product of continuous exposure to trauma and adversities, starting from biblical stories of scarify and inhalation, throughout major world war wars, until current era of extreme exposure to disasters and epidemics.   It is also one of the most innovative collection of essays I have lately read, aiming to warn the reader from giving in and ignoring the devastating impact of repeated adversities and violence, as transmitted to us, on an ongoing basis, via TV and computer screens, smart phones and social media. It is Atarias’ view, which I tend to agree with, that exposure to ongoing societal trauma, will inevitably resulted in broken communities, deficient relationships, and a severe lack of meaning in addition to unbearable psychological toll.” (Yuval Neria, Professor of Medical Psychology, Columbia University, USA)

“Yochai Ataria makes a unique contribution to trauma studies by offering a profound understanding of contemporary culture as a post-traumatic culture. I trust his serious analysis of trauma and its literary and cultural manifestations will be of use to scholars and lay persons in a variety of fields.” (Michael Keren, Professor Emeritus of Communication, University of Calgary, Canada)

“In The Structural Trauma of Western Culture, Yochai Ataria sets himself no less a task than rethinking the concept of trauma and claiming its constitutive role in a history of Western culture.  Ataria’s lively and ranging account takes its readers from the Akeda, the biblical Binding of Isaac, through to key works of twentieth-century and contemporary film and literature, using that primal scene to explore our past and contemplate our present.” (Lisa Saltzman, Professor of History of Art, Bryn Mawr College, USA)

“The considerable intellectual ambition of this book is to argue that a disparate range of texts – from modernist European literature to post-Vietnam American cinema – register a traumatic repetition that has is its origins in religious sacrifice. For Ataria culture not only transmits or memorializes traumatic memory; trauma is the very condition from which culture emerges. Ataria writes about trauma in the tradition of Freud and the Frankfurt School, reading culture as symptomatic of the psychological origins and collective psychopathologies of group identity.” (Allen Meek, Senior Lecturer, Massey University, New Zealand)

“This book would be new in the field and would pave the way forward in new ideas and concepts on Trauma and Culture .The book suggests that there is a closed loop between trauma and culture, arguing  that  the iconic trauma stands at the very core of Western culture…This book is extremely valuable and integrates theory and philosophy from several perspectives and shed novel light on how trauma is embedded in community members even if they were not present on site, or  at the time the trauma took place. I am convinced that this book is outstanding.” (Professor Mooli Lahad, Senior Medical Psychologist, Tel Hai College, Israel)

• Tel-Hai Academic College and Open University of Israel, Upper Galilee, Israel

  Yochai Ataria

Yochai Ataria is Senior Lecturer at Tel-Hai College, Israel, and Researcher at the Open University of Israel. He has published a number of theoretical, empirical, and philosophical articles on the topic of trauma, and has co-edited several books. 

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