162559 20251017144605.0 sideral 89267 ART-2015-89267 eng Ferrández San Miguel, María Universidad de Zaragoza (orcid)0000-0003-4402-0815 Branded in his mind: Trauma, violence and memory in E. L. Doctorow's the Book of Daniel 2015 Access copy available to the general public Unrestricted E. L. Doctorow’s The Book of Daniel (1971) is unequivocally what has been termed a “trauma novel.” This paper examines the protagonist’s traumatic condition, concentrating on its causes and on the determining circumstances that contribute to aggravating it. The analysis of Daniel’s narrative reveals that he suffers from many of the symptoms associated to PTSD and anhedonia, a psychological condition which frequently co-occurs with PTSD as a consequence of infantile psychic trauma. The paper, then, explores the relationship between the protagonist’s traumatic condition and his violent and oppressive treatment of the three main female characters of the novel. Finally, this paper concentrates on the status of Daniel’s memories of his traumatic past. As a conclusion, it is contended that the novel’s concern with trauma and memory points to the author’s preoccupation with remembrance, which he seems to consider the best and only tool to build a better world. Doctorow seeks to highlight the importance of listening to the fragmented voices of those who suffer the effects of trauma in order to develop new social and political perspectives that will guarantee a better future info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess by https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.es 0.181 2015 Literature and Literary Theory 2015 Q1 Language and Linguistics 2015 Q2 Linguistics and Language 2015 Q2 info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion 3004 345 Universidad de Zaragoza Dpto. Filolog.Inglesa y Alema. Área Filología Inglesa 13, 4 (2015), 1-19 NJES : Nordic journal of English studies 1502-7694 211220 http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/162559/files/texto_completo.pdf Versión publicada 1578723 http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/162559/files/texto_completo.jpg?subformat=icon icon Versión publicada oai:zaguan.unizar.es:162559 articulos driver 2025-10-17-14:15:11 ARTICLE