The intersection of trauma and the sublime in Sonali Deraniyagala’s Wave: a critical analysis

Abstract

ABSTRACT Based on a critical analysis of Sonali Deraniyagala’s memoir Wave through the lens of sublimity and trauma theory, this paper argues that the discursive interplay of trauma and sublime in the text functions as a powerful means to express the unspeakable. Situating the text within the revised aes- thetics of the sublime, where the possibility of death constantly haunts the current existence or survival, the paper draws upon Burkean notions of the sublime and Cathy Caruth‘s and Judith Herman’s approaches to trauma to demon- strate how the use of symbolic characters and the fear of death contribute to the processing of trauma and the expression of the unspeakable. By exploring the text’s themes of grandiosity and nobility, as well as the possibility of death as a haunting factor, this analysis shows how the sublime in Wave serves as a means of expressing the ineffable and representing the unrepresentable through language.