Volume VI Special Issue I January 2026

Name of Author : Priya Philip, Varun M P

Title of the paper : Trauma, Memory, and the Narrative Psyche: A Critical Inquiry into the Poetics of R. Cheran

Abstract: Trauma and memory are abstract concepts which are often represented symbolically in literature. Psychological trauma, triggered by political and social causes, is a tentative area that has found increased representation in literature. Trauma studies represent that genre of contemporary literature that expands over characterisations and dialogues and extends the focus to the individual, communities and cultural identities. The concept of trauma is primarily understood as a severely disruptive experience that significantly impacts the selfs emotional organization and perception and understanding of the external world. The present paper attempts to analyse the consciousness and the depth of the verses of R. Cheran, the Sri Lankan Tamil poet, who poignantly depicts the trauma of personal loss and ideological fractures in his poems. His verses are subjective in tone and didactic in approach. This research work explores the impact of the trauma of a civil strife on heterogenous communities and multiple generations. Thus, this paper attempts to delineate on how Cheran deters from the Eurocentric portrayal of the war sentiments in his partly autobiographical poetics based on ethnic conflicts of his homeland Sri Lanka.

Keywords : Trauma, memory, civil strife, subjective, loss

DOI :

Page Number : 247-251