The Structural Trauma of Western Culture: Toward the End of Humanity

Description

This book describes the diverse manifestations of trauma and the ways in which trauma has shaped—and dismantled—our culture. Yochai Ataria describes how we are addicted to trauma and have become both its avid producers and consumers. Consequently, the culture in which we live has become posttraumatic in the deepest sense. This is apparent in the products that have shaped and continue to shape Western culture, ranging from the biblical sacrifice of Isaac to Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now. Ataria exposes the primary attributes of this so-called posttraumatic culture: sacrifice through action, an uncontrolled lust for blood, an inability to speak and describe things in words, a sense of foulness and alienation, emotional death, imperviousness, separation, and an overwhelming sense of exile. Front Matter ....Pages i-xxiii The Sources of Western Trauma: From the Akeda of Isaac to Kafka (Yochai Ataria)....Pages 1-19 Toward Post-Humanity: A Literary Consideration (Yochai Ataria)....Pages 21-43 A Serious Man (Yochai Ataria)....Pages 45-62 The Crisis of Manhood (Yochai Ataria)....Pages 63-71 The New God of Anarchy (Yochai Ataria)....Pages 73-83 The Body in the Postmodern Era: A View from Captivity (Yochai Ataria)....Pages 85-97 K.’s Fatalistic World (Yochai Ataria)....Pages 99-118 This is the End: A World of Silence (Yochai Ataria)....Pages 119-138 Techno Rather than Guns (Yochai Ataria)....Pages 139-161 Culture-Trauma: Some Critical Remarks (Yochai Ataria)....Pages 163-181 Back Matter ....Pages 183-201