Trauma, space, and place in Didion's play It is as it lays, Moshfegh's My year of rest and relaxation, and Oloixarac's Mona

Abstract

This dissertation will examine the interplay between trauma and spatiality within contemporary novels written by women, focusing on Joan Didion’s Play It As It Lays, Ottessa Moshfegh’s My Year of Rest and Relaxation, and Pola Oloixarac’s Mona. The authors all focus on the pervasive presence of trauma within their protagonists’ lives, illustrating the various ways in which trauma manifests itself psychologically, mainly through repetition and reenactment, avoidance, dissociation, and traumatic amnesia. As well as an analysis of specific traumatic moments, including a coerced abortion, the loss of emotionally negligent parents, and a repressed sexual assault, the novels all present trauma as an upheaval that extends beyond the confines of the psyche. Instead, it manifests in the physical environments the characters find themselves in, resulting in a compelling synthesis of internal feelings and external landscapes. Each novel is set across distinct temporal and geographical spaces, ranging from Hollywood in the 60s, a Manhattan apartment in the early 2000s, and a secluded Swedish village in the 2020s. Didion presents space and place in a threefold manner: as a reflection of her protagonist’s psychological fragmentation, as a contributing factor to trauma, and as a medium through which trauma can be repressed and ignored. Moshfegh similarly tackles space as being both a tool for withdrawal, and, as an echo of her narrator’s spiralling psyche. Furthermore, Oloixarac treats space as an externalisation of her protagonist’s inner turmoil, using surrealist imagery to enhance the impact and realisation of her trauma. Therefore, the notions of trauma and spatiality within these three novels will be considered alongside one another, allowing for a unique perspective that is often overlooked. Ultimately, this work argues that trauma is reflected in the characters’ landscapes, and that their surroundings often contribute to feelings of alienation and fragmentation, further adding to their emotional distress.