Representing Trauma in the Arts

Abstract

Applying Jurgen Habermas’ distinction between the three knowledge interests‎ guiding scientific research, this article identifies three approaches to ‘trauma’,‎ a clinical approach, rooted in a medical model, a literary approach, rooted‎in psychoanalysis, and a cultural sociological approach. After elaborating on‎ each of these perspectives, and the various forms through which trauma is ‎represented aesthetically, the three are applied in an analysis of the film “Quo‎Vadis, Aida?”. It is argued that although they entail different notions of trauma,‎ the three are not mutually exclusive and can be combined in a rich understanding ‎of aesthetic representation.‎