Rosalind C. Morris

Penn State University Press, 2011

Abstract

A literary criticism of the novel “Unconfessed” by Yvette Christiansë, in which the author explores the novel’s engagement with emotional trauma in the wake of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in South Africa, a legal attempt, according to the author, to re-legitimize the juridical apparatus of the state after apartheid is presented. Topics include the novel’s use of names and naming, an analysis of testimony at the TRC, and the novel’s engagement with apartheid.

View the paper here: In the Name of Trauma: Notes on Testimony, Truth Telling and the Secret of Literature in South Africa