1. Listening to stories of trauma from a narrative perspective Wendy Patterson Propp’s classic model of narrative 1 mapped onto my model of a trauma narrative 2 equilibrium turbulence disequilibrium action intervention restoration of modified version of equilibrium X liminal zone Y numbness, madness retraumatisation resolutions?narrative meaning-making 1. Propp, V. ([1928]1968). Morphology of the Folktale (trans. L. Scott) Austin: University of Texas Press 2. Patterson, W. (2000). Reading Trauma: Exploring the relationship between narrative and coping. Unpublished PhD thesis. Nottingham Trent University. Electronic copy available: wendy@journalofhandsurgery.comwendy@journalofhandsurgery.com

2. 1. X liminal zone Y: ‘I was just doing X when Y’ 3 equilibrium disturbed/ XY structure the construction of suddenness the destruction of agency the liminal zone imaginary stories and their evaluative role the injustice of traumatic experience 4 3. Wooffitt, R. (1992) Telling Tales of the Unexpected. Hemel Hempstead: Harvester Wheatsheaf 4. Janoff-Bulman, R. (1996) Shattered Assumptions. Towards a New Psychology of Trauma. New York: The Free Press

3. 2. Disequilibrium: numbness, madness and retraumatisation metaphor and the dialectic of trauma 5 the specificity of the meaning of ‘mad’ behaviour retraumatisation; XY structure imaginary stories and the reverse face of history rendering the experience 6 the narrative as testimony to the self who has survived and as archive of the life lost. 5. Herman, J. L. (1992) Trauma and Recovery. London: Basic Books 6. Ricoeur, P. (1991) Life in Quest of Narrative in D. Wood (ed.) On Paul Ricoeur. Narrative and Interpretation. London: Routledge

4. 3. Narrative meaning-making causation blame guilt and fighting talk comparators as evaluative devices 7 social- and self-comparisons 8 7. Labov, W. (1972) Language in the Inner City: Studies in the Black English Vernacular.Oxford: Basil Blackwell 8. Taylor, S.E., Wood, J.V. and Lichtman, R.R. (1983) It Could Be Worse: Selective Evaluation as a Response to Victimization. Journal of Social Issues 39(2):19-40

5. 4. Resolutions? endings are two-fold/Janus faced: an ending (the outcome or result), and a beginning, the beginning of a life beyond the trauma is contained in the ending of the trauma story, and the ending of the trauma story is contained within a new beginning, or the promise of a new beginning.