Aminatta Forna’s the Memory of Love: A Chronicle of Psychological Disaster in a Post-War Context

Abstract

This paper examines the Civil War that hit Sierra Leone from 1991 to 2002 and the psychological trauma that results in the consequence upon people’s psyche as contextualized in Aminatta Forna’s The Memory of Love. It purports to establish an intertwining between this narrative and history through the analysis of some historical events such as riots, coups, the invasion of Freetown by rebel soldiers. Thanks to the psychoanalytical approach and the New historicism, this study has enabled not only to highlight the ferocious atrocities committed by Sierra Leoneans. It has also shown how escapees of this fratricide war cope with the physical and mental scars of those years in their day-to-day lives. As a final assessment, Aminatta Forna’s The Memory of Love can be read as a chronicle of Psychological Disaster in a post-war context that still haunts Sierra Leoneans.