Landscapes of Trauma
Posted on February 18, 2018 Leave a Comment
I have been writing this book now for about a year and a half. I wish I had the freedom to just sit and write rather than have to do it on top of a full time job, but knowing how little money authors earn I think I will stick with the full time job for the moment.
This book is – in a way – a follow up from Memory, War and Trauma (CUP, 2010), taking the exploration of the impact of war in a somewhat different direction, but retaining the importance of using a breadth of methods to try and understand war, to draw on a range of perspectives and disciplines to further develop the psychology of war, and what happens to people who go through war.
The book has an unusual perspective in that it uses data from a variety of sources, not just psychological methods, but historical data, extracts from journals and diaries, and even novels. I do not claim that psychologists have a monopoly of understanding human thought, feeling and behaviour, so no doubt I will upset many psychologists. The other unusual perspective is that I claim that we can better understand battle by following in the footsteps of those who fought, that is, exploring the battlefields of the past, whether by foot or by car.
For instance, there is a chapter on the Battle of Sedan. A tour of the battle area is given. This is one that it is better to have the use of a car due to the size of the battlefield, though there are also good places to walk. The key data is provided by Emile Zola’s Le Debacle, the penultimate Rougon Macquart novel, set during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71. Zola conducted his research for the novel by exploring the sites of the battle (as I do in the chapter) and by interviewing participants and spectators – the book came out around 20 years after the end of the war. Zola is a good observer of human behaviour, and drawing on quotations from the book we can begin to understand something of the experiences of the French soldiers who took part in the battle immediately after having marched for several weeks backwards and forwards around eastern France, unable to find the enemy.
For the Battle of Salamanca in 1812 I draw on the accounts written by the foot soldiers who took part, who describe their experiences of the battle in some detail. The battle site just south of the city is very similar to how it would have been in 1812, and is simple to walk or drive around.
I do draw on psychological data for the Battle of Normandy, as I personally interviewed 100s of participants of that battle. The problem here is the scale of the battle, with a width of around 100km and a variable depth up to 60km it is impossible to explore the whole battlefield, so I have focused on the area where the British paratroopers of the 6th Armoured Division landed on the night of 5/6th June.
I have attempted to go back in time as far as the 100 Years’ War, with the battles of Crecy (1346) and Agincourt (1415) but it is very difficult to get any psychological understanding of these battles. It is in these cases that I start to explore the modern interpretation of the battles, looking at what we have put up as memorials, or how the different sides interpret the battles and how they were fought.
It all adds to the mix of understanding the landscapes of trauma.
I have anotehr 6 months or so before the book is due to be submitted. Most of it is written in some form or other, though mostly very messy. I will return to the topic later for updates.
Annual Blog?
Posted on November 15, 2017 Leave a Comment
I really should try harder at blogging. I have only just noticed that my last blog was added nearly a year ago. How do people do it? How do they add blogs most days or even weekly. Promise to self – must try harder.
In the coming weeks I will begin to update where I am with my book, Landscapes of Trauma (the deadline approaches – September 2019), with research, and so on.
I have spent several weeks away researching and writing the book, and the last trip – to somewhere near Sedan – was particularly productive. I could say this is not the end, nor is it the beginning of the end, but it might be the end of the beginning of writing it. I churned out around 20,000 words in a week. That sounds a lot, but there is no real suggestion that they are in the right order, or that they are the right words. Time will tell. I currently plan to have a draft of the whole book ready for early summer, when we will spend a few weeks in the south of France, where I will get up early every day, sit at my desk looking over the landscape of Provence, be very productive for four hours, go and eat outside, perhaps with a glass of rose (no, skip that if I want to get back to writing), and then a short walk followed by a siesta. In the early evening, I will sit under the shade and write for another couple of hours before eating my evening meal and sharing a glass or two of the red.
And then the book will be finished.
It is good to dream of productivity.
Not a good year
Posted on December 26, 2016 Leave a Comment
Many people are probably thinking that 2016 was not a good year. We have Donald Trump, the continuing wars around the world, a refugee crisis, the economic threat of China, the economic disaster in the rest of the world, Theresa May as an unelected Prime Minister – and Brexit. While many people might hope that 2017 will be a better year, there is little evidence that this may be the case. There is no end in sight of the above problems. It is likely that they are going to get worse.
The problem in Britain is that we do not have an effective opposition. I was a supporter of Jeremy Corbyn, but I realised I made a mistake. While he is a ‘good man’, he is unfortunately stuck in the socialism of the past. The youngsters voted for him in their droves, because they thought he would do something about the muddle we are in; but he hasn’t. I don’t believe he knows where to start.
What we need in the country for the new year is a new opposition, a movement away from traditional left and traditional right. With regard to Brexit, which is the biggest social and economic threat to Britain in my lifetime, those of us – the majority – who did not vote to leave the EU, need to come up with an alternative to Brexit meaning Brexit. Theresa May does not have a mandate to leave the EU; she does not even have a mandate for being the Prime Minister. I am worried at the moment that those who wish to remain in the EU seem to be giving up hope. They need to be reminded that we are still in the EU, that Article 50 hasn’t been detonated, and even if it is, there are still very many steps to got through before we leave – if we leave.
May has been reminded that Parliament is sovereign. We live in a democracy where laws are made and changed by Parliament, not by referenda. Where or not the Brexit referendum is seen as binding or as advisory is irrelevant. At any point Parliament can make or change decisions. Parliament is not bound constitutionally by any previous decisions. This is the advantage of an unwritten constitution. There are a majority of MPs who wish to remain in the EU. They need to stand up and vote according to those beliefs. They need to explain to their constituents why they are doing so.
If Britain was ruled by referenda then we would have capital punishment brought back. That surely is enough to realise that giving people a vote on specific issues (ie a referendum) is perhaps not a very good idea?
2016 was awful. Let’s try and make 2017 a little better.
Dr Nigel Hunt 