Starting from an interdisciplinary theoretical investigation of trauma, the book analyzes the relationship between Trauma Studies and literature. In particular, it focuses on Martin Amis’s novel Time’s Arrow, where the breakdown of chronology, coherence and predictability mimics the collapse of temporality and the crisis of truth caused by trauma in the individual’s mind. Amis’s novel reproduces the shocking force of trauma through a shocking narrative form in order to avoid indifference and favour an empathetic and ethically committed reaction on the part of readers. For these reasons, Time’s Arrow represents a significant example of trauma fiction.
Since its birth, bioethics has been an interdisciplinary inquiry blending philosophy, theology, law, medicine, the social sciences and the humanities to reflect on the complex interactions of human life and techno-science. Valentina Adami's Bioethics through Literature underlines the central role of literature for contemporary bioethical reflection by analyzing Margaret Atwood's cautionary novels The Handmaid's Tale (1985), Oryx and Crake (2003) and The Year of the Flood (2009). In particular, The Handmaid's Tale provides a framework for discussion on biopower, the female body and the ethics of ARTs (Assisted Reproduction Technologies), while Oryx and Crake and The Year of the Flood offer interesting insights into other bioethical issues, namely ecology and the ethics of genetic engineering. Valentina Adami received a PhD in English Studies from the University of Verona in 2010. She is a member of AIA (Associazione Italiana di Anglistica), ESSE (European Society for the Study of English) and AIDEL (Associazione Italiana di Diritto e Letteratura). Her fields of research include Literature and Trauma Studies, Law and Literature, Literature and Bioethics. She published a monograph on Trauma Studies and Literature (2008) and several essays on contemporary authors such as Martin Amis, Anne Michaels, Caryl Phillips and Jeanette Winterson.
