A Trauma-Theoretical Reading of Hugues C. Pernath's War Poetry

Abstract

Dominick LaCapra has pointed out that from a trauma-theoretical perspective definitions which are too generally formulated lead to an unstable distinction between victim and commentator. According to LaCapra, the idea that "con­temporary culture, or even all history, is essentially traumatic or that everyone in the post-Holocaust context is a survivor" is dubious (LaCapra 2001: x-xii). If LaCapra's findings are interpreted in a narrow sense, only Holocaust victims meet the criteria for traumatic experience. The aim of this article, which focuses on the poetry of the canonical Flemish poet, Hugues C. Pernath (1931-1975), is to establish a pertinent definition that will justify the inclusion of literary projects by certain post-war poets within trauma-theoretical discourse. Pernath was so moved by visiting Auschwitz and living with a Jewish survivor that his notions about humanity were fundamentally shaken. This rupture in his world view, which is also reflected in his poetry, can thus be called traumatic. However, Pernath's poetry has never before been examined within this conceptual framework. Through the analysis of selected texts, this paper attempts to show how a writer who has not directly suffered the scarring con­sequences of war may nonetheless bear testimony to such a traumatic experience. The article argues that the specific idiom of the poet, with its interrupted syntax, elliptical sentence structures, semantic ambivalences, and various hitches in the text, as well as the handling of silences, reveals his central concern with problematising conventional communication in the face of trauma.

Opsomming
Dominick LaCapra dui aan dat definisies wat vanuit 'n trauma-teoretiese perspektief te wyd geformuleer word, tot 'n onvaste onderskeid tussen slagoffer en kommentator lei. Die idee dat kontemporere kultuur en selfs die hele geskiedenis in wese traumaties is, of dat almal wat na die Holocaust lewe, oorlewendes daarvan is, is volgens LaCapra twyfelagtig (LaCapra 2011: x-xii). As LaCapra se bevindinge in 'n beperkte sin ge·1nterpreteer word, voldoen slegs Holocaust-slagoffers aan die kriteria van traumatiese ervarings. Hierdie artikel fokus op die poesie van die kanoniese Vlaamse digter, Hugues C. Pernath (1931-1975). Die doel is om 'n gepaste definisie te formuleer wat die insluiting van literere projekte deur sekere naoorlogse digters by die trauma-teoretiese diskoers regverdig. 'n Besoek aan Auschwitz en sy verblyf by 'n Joodse oorlewende het Pernath so ontroer dat dit sy idees oor die mensdom heeltemal omvergegooi het. Hierdie kentering in sy wereldbeskouing, wat weerspieel word in sy poesie, was dus traumaties. Pernath se poesie is egter nog nooit vantevore binne hierdie konseptuele raamwerk ondersoek nie. Deur 'n ontleding van sekere tekste poog hierdie artikel om aan te dui hoe 'n skrywer wat nie die bittere gevolge van die oorlog gedra het nie, nogtans van hierdie traumatiese gebeure kan getuig. Hierdie artikel voer verder aan dat die spesifieke idioom van die digter, naamlik sy onderbroke sintaksis, elliptiese sinne, semantiese dubbelsinnighede, hinderlikhede en benutting van stiltes, sy allesoorheersende ems met die proble­matisering van konvensionele kommunikasie in die aangesig van trauma weerspieel.