Date of Award
Fall 2026
Language
English
Embargo Period
10-30-2028
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
College/School/Department
Department of English
Program
English
First Advisor
Kaul, Aashish
Second Advisor
Elam, Helen
Third Advisor
Schwarzschild, Edward
Committee Members
Kaul Aashish, Elam Helen, Schwarzschild Edward
Keywords
Creative Writing, Novel, Transgenerational Trauma, Memory Studies, Second World War, Germany
Subject Categories
Creative Writing | European Languages and Societies | Fiction | German Literature | History | Literature in English, North America
Abstract
My novel “Knives and Spoons” puts into literary form–into words–the disruptive effect that trauma inflicts on the individual, and further captures trauma’s capacity to extend beyond the individual and transmit intergenerationally within family structures.
The trauma narrative can be crafted when healing has happened, and the traumatized individual has come into the present enough for the wound to form a scar.
Only the scar has words for the wounding; trauma becomes a narrative once it has been survived. Who narrates, has survived.
Who has survived can tell the deeply necessary story.
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Nerf, Annika, "“Knives and Spoons” - Who Narrates, Has Survived: Trauma, Language, Memory" (2026). Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present). 560.
https://scholarsarchive.library.albany.edu/etd/560
Included in
European Languages and Societies Commons, Fiction Commons, German Literature Commons, History Commons, Literature in English, North America Commons