I have come to a point where I feel a need to understand more about my own work methods and my motivations. Departing from a process diary written during my master studies, I take a closer look at my own artistic process — the questions which inform my work, the questions that arise in it, and how my work is an attempt to understand those questions. Wherein lies the urgency for me to work with art in the way that I do?  This is an essay about a search, about trying to make sense of something, about not knowing. It is also an exploration of how my work in the non-verbal domain transforms my not knowing, how working with art is a tool for thinking and understanding.

This study employs psychoanalytical theories to explore how the conscious, unconscious, and subconscious workings of the mind, combined with a search for identity, are presented and dealt with in Toni Morrison’s novel Beloved (1987). It is done through a close reading and in-depth textual analysis of thematic concerns raised in the work. Previous research has primarily relied on some specific aspects of psychoanalytic theory and applied it to Beloved. The theoretical framework provides a rationale for this paper to research two events in particular that highlight the mother-daughter relationships between Sethe and her Ma’am and between Sethe and her daughter Beloved. These relationships are consequently analyzed by employing psychoanalytical concepts offered by Freud, Lacan and Kristeva. By utilizing psychoanalytical criticism, the characters’ conscious and unconscious motives and feelings are revealed and explained, as well as the meanings and the undercurrents that lie underneath the text’s consciousness. The results suggest that Sethe murdered her daughter Beloved to keep her from becoming a slave and enduring the dreadful and traumatic consequences of slavery, which was similar to what Sethe went through when she was abandoned by her Ma'am. Sethe’s childhood psychological principles and trauma shaped her identity as a mother as she witnessed her mother abandoning her at a young age by being tortured and killed. The events around Sethe’s mother’s death and the fact that Sethe never identifies her mother’s dead body, scar Sethe for life and instill in Sethe a sense of “lack” and an abnormal feeling of maternal love where she is ready to kill her children to save them from the horror of slavery.

Cette thèse vise à cerner les raisons historiques, intellectuelles et affectives de l’importance que reçoit le problème de la vulnérabilité individuelle dans la culture politique des sociétés modernes. Il s’agit de tenter de comprendre pourquoi et par le concours de quelles transformations normatives et structurelles nous en sommes venus, comme citoyens, à attendre de l’État qu’il nous protège des affres de l’existence. L’oeuvre philosophique de Thomas Hobbes, fondée sur une anthropologie individualiste où l’homme apparaît mû par deux affects, le désir et la crainte, nous paraît être la première formulation théorique de ce problème de la vulnérabilité, et à ce titre, nous posons qu’elle a été déterminante pour l’institutionnalisation d’une rationalité politique proprement moderne. De manière à saisir quelles ont pu être les conditions de possibilité de la philosophie de Hobbes, de même que son influence sur l’imaginaire politique occidental, il nous faut tenter de comprendre non seulement pourquoi l’affectivité humaine a pu se trouver ainsi posée comme enjeu du gouvernement, mais comment elle est aussi liée, de manière générale, au fonctionnement des institutions sociales, lequel est historiquement contingent. Il en va ainsi d’une interrogation, que nous poursuivrons dans un relevé des principaux concepts à l’aide desquels Sigmund Freud, Norbert Elias, Max Weber et Michel Foucault ont pensé les modalités du façonnement social et historique de la subjectivité, et par le biais de laquelle nous espérons expliquer pourquoi le « type d’homme » sur lequel s’appuie le régime libéral moderne implique le vécu d’une expérience affective marquée par un rapport tendu entre le désir et le sentiment de la vulnérabilité.

This thesis investigates the uncanny (das Unheimliche) in five of Sylvia Plath’s 1962 poems: “Berck-Plage”, “The Arrival of the Bee Box”, “Daddy”, “Fever 103°”, and “Death & Co.”. Furthermore, it looks at how the biographical circumstances in which the poet found herself while writing the poems, may have influenced them. Drawing mainly on Sigmund Freud’s 1919 essay “The Uncanny” and the 2003 The Uncanny by Nicholas Royle, this thesis examines a variety of elements in Plath’s poems including, but not limited to, the beach as a liminal space, aposiopesis as intellectual uncertainty and as an example of l’écriture féminine, thresholds in the form of windows, shoes, and locked boxes, severed limbs as examples of Viktor Shklovsky’s defamiliarization, Latin as a heimlich/unheimlich language, the uncanny effect of darkness, silence, and solitude, the double as a harbinger of death, the wish to both include and exclude the specter and that which is strange, and breathlessness and euphoria as manifestations of madness. Furthermore, it examines hitherto unexplored potential influences on Plath’s poetry, including but not limited to, the writings of Nathaniel Hawthorne, Thérèse of Lisieux, Franz Kafka, and Knut Hamsun. Because of the ambiguity of the concept of the uncanny, this thesis incorporates a host of material such as taped interviews conducted by Harriet Rosenstein, Subha Mukherji’s Thinking on Thresholds, Julia Kristeva’s Strangers to Ourselves, and Jacques Derrida’s Specters of Marx. In conclusion, this thesis argues that the uncanny is an instrumental key to the comprehension of Plath’s late poetry.

Winsor McCay drew delightful drawings about the dreams of a Welsh rarebit fiend, 'rare bits' inspired by an overindulgence in cheese. Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend was a Saturday cartoon that appeared in the New York Evening Telegram from 1904 to 1911, psychic twin to Little Nemo in Slumberland that appeared concurrently in the Sunday Funnies of the New York Herald from 1905-1911. 'Slumberland' was a Neo-classical fantasy that closely resembled the idealized White City of the Chicago World's Fair (1893), that inspired the architecture of Coney Island's Dreamland (1905-1911), which beckoned to McCay as he drew from his house just across Sheepshead Bay in Brooklyn. The capricious side of this Architecture emerged in McCay's cartoons. A self-taught illustrator, McCay began his career in Detroit working in dime museums, worlds of wonder—filled with monsters—dioramas and sideshow performers whose livelihood depended on their ability to amaze an audience. Just this sort of rare and gifted fellow, McCay parlayed his entertaining lampoonery of Slumberland into some of the world's first animations on vaudeville. As with the Rarebit Fiend, Little Nemo's dreams were brought on by overindulgence, in his case of too many donuts or Huckleberry Pie. But, this was merely a pretense for McCay's fantastical 'dream' mode of thinking, a potentially useful body of knowledge that was simultaneously explored by Sigmund Freud, Henri Bergson and Marcel Proust, who linked the mechanisms employed by the unconscious in dreaming to those at play in wit. Architectural drawing—seen through McCay's cartoons and early animations—has a kind of 'gastronomical' alchemy that inadvertently became a treatise on the architectural imagination. Fiend and Little Nemo affected the psychic mood of early modern Architecture—its 'childhood' in the milieu of White Cities—that was both added to and commented on by Winsor McCay's pen. His cartoons portray the hidden 'flavors' of the buildings springing up a century ago. This 'other'—surreal—aspect of the White Cities, seasoned with whirling iron Ferris wheels and Flip-Flop rides, newly invented elevators and electric lights—and even fun house mirrors that made buildings suddenly seem very tall—were the ingredients that caused the fiend and Nemo to wake up, which ultimately became the culinary school of modern Architecture. McCay's 'fiendish' depictions show us that the right blend of humor and awe is a recipe for happiness. / Doctor of Philosophy / Winsor McCay made cartoons of the 'nightmares' of a Rarebit Fiend with a witty, unflinching eye for detail. Those illustrations became a psychic twin to the architectural fantasies of a little boy in the 'funnies' section of the New York newspapers from 1905-1911. Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend and Little Nemo in Slumberland continue to entertain and edify us, while inadvertently acting as a guide to how the imagination works. McCay's celebrity as a cartoonist also led him to become one of the world's first animators, amazing vaudeville audiences with depictions of Little Nemo that were suddenly larger than life, illuminated, and mobile. Dreams were rediscovered in the early twentieth century as useful bodies of knowledge for understanding the self, seen through the writings of Sigmund Freud, Henri Bergson and Marcel Proust, who linked the mechanisms employed by the unconscious 'dreamer' to those at play in wit. That thinking was surrounded by the atmosphere in McCay's comedic sequential images, which in turn inspired the iconic dreamlike silent movies of Buster Keaton. A look at the birth of these art forms a hundred years ago provides insight into the psychic mood of early modern Architecture, but also to the imagining of today's world (both material and virtual) using the digital tools that are just being invented. Although McCay's cartoons are fiendish, they sustain the balance between dreaming and humor that is essential to imagining a happy modern life.

Une multitude de gens, au XXe siècle, se sont servis de la psychanalyse pour se rendre compte de leurs faits et gestes. En s’appuyant ainsi sur la psychanalyse, ils démontraient la profondeur de la confiance qu’ils lui accordaient. Cette diffusion ample et profonde, qui a laissé une empreinte très marquée sur la culture contemporaine, demeure largement inexpliquée. Ce phénomène étonnant devient intelligible dès lors qu’on aborde la psychanalyse comme une grammaire de l’intériorité, qui a guidé des interactions en les médiatisant par des symboles et des significations communes (normes, valeurs, etc.) propres aux sociétés démocratiques contemporaines (celles qui se conçoivent comme émanant d’un accord entre individus). Cette pratique sociale, l’enquête psychanalytique, peut être analysée en situant dans leurs contextes d’interactions les discours dans lesquels des désirs refoulés étaient imputés à différentes conduites. L’œuvre de Freud offre un échantillon de tels discours. La description de la forme et du sens que ces imputations de désirs refoulés conféraient à différentes interactions en cours nous permet d’identifier les traits caractéristiques de l’enquête psychanalytique. Freud montre que le refoulement naît d’un conflit entre une volonté présociale refoulée et une volonté socialisée, refoulante, née des exigences inculquées par l’autorité parentale. Pour identifier un désir refoulé, il faut donc simultanément identifier une relation refoulante. L’enquête psychanalytique amène à passer en revue les différentes relations interpersonnelles et intrapersonnelles dans lesquelles est impliqué l’auteur du refoulement. Cet exercice permet de départager les relations qui contraignent la volonté intérieure présociale à des exigences sociales de celles qui, en sens inverse, émanent de cette volonté intérieure. Comme les premières suscitent le refoulement et les symptômes indésirables qu’il entraîne, la guérison du refoulement exige que le porteur du refoulement prenne ses distances des exigences sociales héritées, de manière à parvenir à reconnaître sa volonté présociale. En soupesant ainsi la contrainte exercée sur les volontés présociales par les relations particulières, l’enquête psychanalytique jaugeait ces dernières à partir d’une exigence propre aux sociétés démocratiques contemporaines : celle de fonder les relations sociales sur les volontés non contraintes des partenaires. L’enquête psychanalytique participait ainsi d’un imaginaire social moderne qui donnait, à des relations variées, la forme d’un contrat. Les contemporains qui recouraient à cette enquête manifestaient un souci de respecter cette exigence et ils suscitaient une réaction critique envers les relations qui contraignaient la volonté. En somme, l’enquête psychanalytique offrait aux contemporains une manière d’ordonner les relations qui était adaptée à une société accordant une autorité prééminente aux exigences « contractuelles ». Voilà qui explique en grande partie l’ampleur et la profondeur de la diffusion de la psychanalyse au XXe siècle. / In the twentieth century, a multitude of people used psychoanalysis to explain their actions and gestures to one another. Their reliance on psychoanalysis, is an indication of how deeply they trusted its theories. This wide and profound diffusion, which has left a very strong impression on contemporary culture, remains however largely unexplained. This puzzling phenomenon becomes intelligible, from the moment one treats psychoanalysis as a grammar of interiority, which guides interactions by mediating them with symbols and common meanings (norms, values, etc.) specific to contemporary democratic societies (those that conceive themselves as emerging from an agreement between individuals). This social practice, the psychoanalytic inquiry, can be analyzed by situating in their contexts of interactions the speeches in which repressed desires were imputed to various conducts. Freud’s work provides a sample of such speeches. The description of the form and meaning that these imputations of repressed desires conferred to different ongoing interactions allows us to identify the specific features of the psychoanalytic inquiry. Freud shows that the repression arises from a conflict between a repressed presocial will and a socialized will, which enforces repression, born from requirements inculcated by the parental authority. Hence, to identify a repressed desire, one must simultaneously identify a repressing relationship. The psychoanalytic inquiry leads to review the different interpersonal and intrapersonal relationships in which the author of the repression is involved. This exercise leads to set apart the relationships that constrain the inner presocial will to social requirements, from those that rather emanate from this inner will. Since the former creates the repression and the unwanted symptoms it causes, the healing of the repression requires that its carrier distances oneself from inherited social requirements, in order to recognize one’s her inner will. By weighing the coercion on presocial wills exercised by specific relations, the psychoanalytic inquiry gauged these relations from a standard specific to contemporary democratic societies: the requirement to ground social relations on the unconstrained wills of the partners. The psychoanalytic inquiry was part of a modern social imaginary that shaped the form of a contract to various relationships. The people who used this inquiry showed that they were concerned about this requirement and they prompted a critical reaction to the relationships that constrained their will. In sum, the psychoanalytic inquiry provided the contemporary world with a way of organizing relationships that was adapted to a society that gave a preeminent authority to “contractual” requirements. That largely explains the breadth and depth of the diffusion of psychoanalysis in the twentieth century.

Esta pesquisa tem como objetivo expor a dificuldade que o psicólogo encontra para realizar um estudo sobre o indivíduo se não recorrer a outras esferas do saber além da ciência, como a arte, e mais especificamente, a literatura. Procura-se evidenciar que a ciência psicológica não abarca a descrição de muitos aspectos presentes na formação do indivíduo, mesmo a psicanálise freudiana, teoria considerada neste trabalho. Já a literatura pode fornecer tanto uma perspectiva histórica da cultura, como elementos que a própria razão não é capaz de apresentar. Nesse sentido, a literatura pode ser também crítica da ciência, pois tem condições de mostrar por que o inconsciente, por exemplo, se torna objeto de estudo científico somente a partir de um momento do capitalismo, quando as inúmeras mediações do capital estreitam o sentido da vida humana. A literatura permite entender como era o homem em outras épocas e, assim, ela fornece a medida das mudanças ocorridas no indivíduo, como sua perda de autonomia e dificuldade de formação. O exame dessas questões se baseia nas reflexões dos teóricos que compõem a Teoria Crítica da Escola de Frankfurt, notadamente Theodor W. Adorno e Walter Benjamin, filósofos que se utilizaram largamente da psicanálise freudiana em seus ensaios. Alguns aspectos do romance de Franz Kafka, O processo, são analisados nesta pesquisa. A leitura dessa obra de Kafka, concomitante à leitura de alguns textos de Freud, permite entender como era o indivíduo da época desses autores, bem como fornece subsídios de sua constituição. A pesquisa está dividida em três partes. Na primeira são expostos princípios teóricos para descrever a relação entre indivíduo e cultura e para entender como o trabalho do artista expõe sua realidade. No segundo momento, por meio de reflexões sobre O processo, busca-se mostrar como o romance é capaz de expor as dificuldades de existência do indivíduo. E por fim, a terceira parte procura discutir alguns limites da psicanálise freudiana e algumas relações dessa teoria com os achados da literatura. Este estudo não pretende propor a rejeição da ciência, mas sim contribuir para a reflexão sobre seus limites e, portanto, para a ampliação dos mesmos / The present research strives to discuss the difficulty to conduct a study of the individual without considering other areas of knowledge beyond science, such as art, and more specifically, literature. It tries to show that psychological science can not to understand many aspects which are present in the formation of the individual, including the Freudian psychoanalysis, theory considered in this work. Literature can provide both historical perspective as well as elements of the culture, which reason itself is not capable. In this regard, literature can also be cr itical of science because it is able to show why the unconscious, for example, becomes an object of scientific study only from a specific point of capitalism while the numerous mediations of the capital narrow the meaning of human life. Moreover literature allows us to understand how human being was in another period, and thus it provides a dimension of changes of the individual, such as loss of autonomy and difficulty of formation. The study of these issues is based on the theory of some thinkers who compound the Critical Theory of the Frankfurt School, especially Theodor W. Adorno and Walter Benjamin, philosophers who approached Freudian psychoanalysis in their essays. Some aspects of the novel by Franz Kafka, The Trial, are analyzed in this research. The reading of the work of Kafka together with some texts of Freud helps to understand how the individual of that period was, as well as, provides elements of their formation. The research is divided in three parts. First of all, theoretical principles are exposed to describe the relationship between the individual and culture and to understand how the work of the artist exposes his reality. Secondly, by thinking about The Trial, it seeks to show how modern novel is able to expose the difficulties of the individual existence. Finally, it discusses some limits of Freudian psychoanalysis and its relation to literature findings. This study does not intend to propose rejection of science, but rather contribute to the thinking and therefore broadening of its limits

Esta pesquisa tem como objetivo expor a dificuldade que o psicólogo encontra para realizar um estudo sobre o indivíduo se não recorrer a outras esferas do saber além da ciência, como a arte, e mais especificamente, a literatura. Procura-se evidenciar que a ciência psicológica não abarca a descrição de muitos aspectos presentes na formação do indivíduo, mesmo a psicanálise freudiana, teoria considerada neste trabalho. Já a literatura pode fornecer tanto uma perspectiva histórica da cultura, como elementos que a própria razão não é capaz de apresentar. Nesse sentido, a literatura pode ser também crítica da ciência, pois tem condições de mostrar por que o inconsciente, por exemplo, se torna objeto de estudo científico somente a partir de um momento do capitalismo, quando as inúmeras mediações do capital estreitam o sentido da vida humana. A literatura permite entender como era o homem em outras épocas e, assim, ela fornece a medida das mudanças ocorridas no indivíduo, como sua perda de autonomia e dificuldade de formação. O exame dessas questões se baseia nas reflexões dos teóricos que compõem a Teoria Crítica da Escola de Frankfurt, notadamente Theodor W. Adorno e Walter Benjamin, filósofos que se utilizaram largamente da psicanálise freudiana em seus ensaios. Alguns aspectos do romance de Franz Kafka, O processo, são analisados nesta pesquisa. A leitura dessa obra de Kafka, concomitante à leitura de alguns textos de Freud, permite entender como era o indivíduo da época desses autores, bem como fornece subsídios de sua constituição. A pesquisa está dividida em três partes. Na primeira são expostos princípios teóricos para descrever a relação entre indivíduo e cultura e para entender como o trabalho do artista expõe sua realidade. No segundo momento, por meio de reflexões sobre O processo, busca-se mostrar como o romance é capaz de expor as dificuldades de existência do indivíduo. E por fim, a terceira parte procura discutir alguns limites da psicanálise freudiana e algumas relações dessa teoria com os achados da literatura. Este estudo não pretende propor a rejeição da ciência, mas sim contribuir para a reflexão sobre seus limites e, portanto, para a ampliação dos mesmos / The present research strives to discuss the difficulty to conduct a study of the individual without considering other areas of knowledge beyond science, such as art, and more specifically, literature. It tries to show that psychological science can not to understand many aspects which are present in the formation of the individual, including the Freudian psychoanalysis, theory considered in this work. Literature can provide both historical perspective as well as elements of the culture, which reason itself is not capable. In this regard, literature can also be cr itical of science because it is able to show why the unconscious, for example, becomes an object of scientific study only from a specific point of capitalism while the numerous mediations of the capital narrow the meaning of human life. Moreover literature allows us to understand how human being was in another period, and thus it provides a dimension of changes of the individual, such as loss of autonomy and difficulty of formation. The study of these issues is based on the theory of some thinkers who compound the Critical Theory of the Frankfurt School, especially Theodor W. Adorno and Walter Benjamin, philosophers who approached Freudian psychoanalysis in their essays. Some aspects of the novel by Franz Kafka, The Trial, are analyzed in this research. The reading of the work of Kafka together with some texts of Freud helps to understand how the individual of that period was, as well as, provides elements of their formation. The research is divided in three parts. First of all, theoretical principles are exposed to describe the relationship between the individual and culture and to understand how the work of the artist exposes his reality. Secondly, by thinking about The Trial, it seeks to show how modern novel is able to expose the difficulties of the individual existence. Finally, it discusses some limits of Freudian psychoanalysis and its relation to literature findings. This study does not intend to propose rejection of science, but rather contribute to the thinking and therefore broadening of its limits

[pt] Esta dissertação propõe uma leitura da especificidade do laço social na atualidade, assim como propõe uma maneira como, a partir deste laço, poderia ser decantada uma política contemporânea. Para esta costura, uma leitura do sociólogo Zygmunt Bauman fornece balizas para delimitarmos o estado atual do laço social. Em seguida, algumas das perspectivas de Sigmund Freud, com relação ao social e aos modos de organização grupal, especialmente quanto ao lugar que estes dão ao líder, são contrapostas à descrição de Bauman. Jorge Alemán e Ernesto Laclau trazem, então, elementos para a aplicação de conceitos desenvolvidos por Jacques Lacan, a partir de Freud, ao momento político atual, especialmente no que concerne às concepções de solidão comum, significante vazio e ato instituinte. Por fim, os conceitos lacanianos de nó borromeano e sinthome são examinados para localizar em que se apoiam os conceitos de Alemán e Laclau, com referência ao ensino de Lacan. Amarra-se, assim, nossa dissertação, propondo alguma orientação dentro do campo demarcado. / [en] This dissertation proposes a reading of the specificity of the social tie in the present time, as well as proposes a way where, from this tie, a contemporary politics could be decanted. For this seam, a reading by sociologist Zygmunt Bauman provides reading beacons for delimiting the current state of the social tie. Next, some of Freud s perspectives on the social and modes of group organization, especially as to the place they give to the leader, are opposed to Bauman s description. Jorge Alemán and Ernesto Laclau bring elements for the application of concepts developed by Jacques Lacan from Freud s work to the present political moment, especially in what concerns his conceptions of common solitude, empty signifier and institute act. Finally, the Lacanian concepts of the Borromean node and sinthome are examined with the objective of locating in which the concepts of Alemán and Laclau are supported in the teaching of Lacan. Thus, our dissertation is tied, proposing some orientation within the demarcated field.

《寵兒》（Beloved, 1987）是美國作家童妮‧摩里森（Toni Morrison）的第五本小說。如同她的前四本小說，《寵兒》關注的主題是黑人族群生活在美國所面臨的困境，探討非裔美國人如何在種族歧視的壓迫下求生存。與前四本小說不同的是，《寵兒》所敘述的故事發生在奴隸制度廢除之際，是摩里森第一次直接處理黑人在奴隸制度中遭受虐待的歷史事實。《寵兒》的主角是一群被解放的黑奴，摩里森藉著他們對過去的回憶來訴說奴隸制度對黑人族群所造成的集體創傷。受創的角色活在有關創傷的回憶中。他們不願去回想痛苦的過去，卻又被揮之不去的創傷記憶所纏繞。他們試著彼此扶持，並企圖走出受創的陰霾，找尋一個新的生活。 《寵兒》的故事以女主角柴特（Sethe）弒嬰的秘密為中心，加上其他黑奴的創傷記憶編織而成。既然小說本身是一個有關創傷的故事，批評家對《寵兒》的研究也就常涉及小說中的記憶、創傷與敘事風格。不過這些有關記憶、創傷與敘事的討論總是以種族或性別等議題為出發點，很少批評家純粹分析記憶、創傷與敘事在《寵兒》中的互動關係。有別於以往的研究，本論文試著以「創傷敘述」（trauma narrative）為主軸，採用佛洛伊德（Sigmund Freud）與赫曼（Judith Herman）的創傷理論來分析《寵兒》中記憶、創傷與敘事如何互相影響。首先，本論文探討創傷如何影響記憶的形成與敘事，以及創傷記憶為何是「一個不可說的故事」（an unspeakable story）。其次，本論文將創傷敘述的特色與《寵兒》中複雜難解的敘事風格相比較，討論摩里森如何運用創傷敘述的特色來再現小說中主角們難以啟齒的創傷記憶。最後，本論文討論創傷敘述與創傷治療（trauma healing）之間的關係，說明創傷敘述如何成為創傷治療過程中不可或缺的一環。 / Beloved (1987) is Toni Morrison’s fifth novel. Like her first four novels, Beloved centers on the social injustice which the black people are confronted with in their lives, depicting how African Americans struggle to survive under the oppression of racism. What renders Beloved different is its subject—the history of slavery, which was never dealt with in Morrison’s novels. The main characters in Beloved are ex-slaves who have undergone the atrocities of slavery. By recounting the characters’ experiences, the novel represents the horrors of slavery and the atrocities traumatizing the black people. In their post-traumatic lives, the characters are trapped in their traumatic memory. Although they show reluctance to recall the painful past, the traumatized characters are haunted by their indelible memories. However, the story is not completely tragic since, in the end, the characters are not defeated by their trauma. They endeavor to support each other, trying to rid themselves of traumatic memory and to rebuild a new life. The story of Beloved, which revolves around Sethe’s secret of infanticide, is constructed from the characters’ traumatic memory. Since the story is closely related to trauma, most critics explore Beloved in terms of memory, trauma, and its narrative style. However, critics often discuss only one or two topics of the above three. There are some critics analyzing the interrelation of memory, trauma and narrative in Beloved but their discussions are often the portions pertaining to the more extensive explorations based on the topic of history, race, or gender. Differing from these critical approaches, the present thesis adopts the concept of trauma narrative, using Sigmund Freud and Judith Herman’s trauma theories to analyze the interplay of trauma, memory, and narrative in Beloved. Firstly, the thesis discusses how the traumatic event affects the formation and narration of memory. The discussion also demonstrates why the traumatic memory is “an unspeakable story.” Secondly, the thesis compares the characteristics of trauma narrative with the intricate narrative of Beloved. The discussion centers on how Morrison adopts the characteristic of trauma narrative to represent a story of trauma. Lastly, the thesis explores the interrelation between trauma narrative and trauma healing. The discussion intends to clarify how trauma narrative becomes a prerequisite for trauma healing.