Narrating Trauma in Hilkka Ravilo’s Mesimarjani, pulmuni, pääskyni
Abstract
In this article, I analyse through trauma theory the ways in which sexual and structural trauma are depicted through negation, focalisation and free indirect speech in Hilkka Ravilo’s novel Mesimarjani, pulmuni, pääskyni (1997). I argue for the relevance of Ravilo’s widely forgotten novel for the tradition of Finnish trauma fiction.
The emphasis on negation in the novel underlines the drastic effects of trauma and thematises its nature as absence. Mesimarja handles trauma indirectly through focalisation and shifts the attention from experiencing trauma to its effects. Together these means create a logic of double communication. The trauma of sexual violence is depicted through the skewed narrative of the victim’s family member, while the reader is guided through negation to interpret the victim’s real trauma narrative from between the lines.
In addition to sexual trauma, the novel describes structural trauma. Free indirect speech, which obscures the source of the speaker’s voice, mirrors the processes of structural trauma and focuses attention from the individual to the community. Furthermore, the concept of the primal scene deepens the depiction of structural trauma, allowing more societal interpretations.
Mesimarja touches on the role of narrative skills such as empathy and interpretation in working through trauma. Narrative medicine highlights the importance of these skills in medicine, especially in the encounters between doctors and their patients. The new Finnish legislation on sexual offenses has brought up challenges to the work and training of the police. For further research, I propose applying narrative medicine to the work and training of the police, and that trauma fiction could offer better understanding of trauma and strengthen narrative skills.
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