Dr. Anna Thiemann
Dr. Anna Thiemann

Rewriting the American Soul: Trauma, Neuroscience and the Contemporary Literary Imagination

""
© Routledge

Rewriting the American Soul focuses on the political implications of psychoanalytic and neurocognitive approaches to trauma, their impact on cultural representations of collective trauma in the United States, and their subversive appropriation in pre- and post-9/11 fiction. Anna Thiemann connects current trauma theory with the historical context from which it emerged and shows that contemporary novels encourage us to reflect critically on the cultural meanings and political uses of trauma. In doing so, she contributes to a new generation of trauma scholarship that challenges the dominant paradigm in literary and cultural studies. Moreover, her book intervenes in current debates about the relationship between literature and neuroscience insisting that the so-called neuronovel scrutinizes scientific developments and their political ramifications rather than merely adopting and translating them into aesthetic forms.

Field of Study: English
Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Maria I. Diedrich, Prof. Dr. Martina Wagner-Egelhaaf, Prof. Dr. N. Katherine Hayles (Duke University)

  • Current Projects

    since 10/2017 Coordinator of the Graduate School Practices of Literature
    since 06/2013 Assistant Professor of English, WWU Münster
  • Academic Career

    09/2017 Publication of the Dissertation Rewriting the American Soul: Trauma, Neuroscience and the Contemporary Literary Imagination
    05/2013 PhD Defense
      
     
    04/2007 - 05/2013 Research and Teaching Assistant, English Department, WWU Münster
    08/2008 - 05/2013 Doctoral Student at the Graduate School Practices of Literature
    10/2009 - 03/2010 Visiting Scholar, Literature Program, Duke University, USA
    01/2007 - 03/2007 Research Assistant, Graduate School Practices of Literature
    08/2002 - 03/2003 Graduate Assistant, Ball State University, USA
    04/2000 - 06/2007 Master of Arts and Master of Education in English, German, Philosophy and Communication Studies, WWU Münster