THE LIMITS OF TRAUMA THEORY THROUGH HIROSHIMA, MON AMOUR

Abstract

My aim in this paper is to question the apparently mutually supportive bind between legal and psychoanalytic discourse in order to refine the methods used in Trauma Studies. I will do this by first reviewing Leys’ (2000) critique of Caruth’s (1996) work and then follow that by an analysis of Hiroshima, mon amour (1958) which, as a film based on a screenplay by Marguerite Duras about the ethical impact of the U.S. bombing of Japan to end WWII, gives us ample opportunity to see to what extent the legal and the psychoanalytic discourses are and are not bound to each other.