Loredana Bercuci, Trauma and the Mediated Self: Contemporary Life Writing Across Media, London: Lexington Books, 2024, 205 p.

Abstract

It is more than enough for an individual to wake up in the morning, pick up the phone – as many do –, or turn on the TV, as others do, gasp and tremble at yet another tragedy. An accident, a murder, another suicide. Genocides, war, and killing sprees. As we scroll down and button up, the distance between us grows, until we can breathe again, speak again, and shout, “It is not me! It is not me!” It could never be us. But trauma has a daily routine. It awaits. It waits beside the crib, under the classroom table, around the corner, in the arms of the loved one. It lurks in trenches, shops, and open fields. It consumes.