Graphic Backgrounds: Collective Dissociative Trauma in Rutu Modan's Exit Wounds (2007). Issue 1 (6th November 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Michaels, Jamie
• Is Part Of: Comics grid. Volume 10:Issue 1(2020)
• Publication Date: 2020-11-06
• Subjects: Braiding -- Graphic Novels -- Collective Memory -- Israel-Palestine -- Trauma
• DOI: 10.16995/cg.206
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2048-0792

Abstract

Abstract : This article explores how Rutu Modan's graphic novel Exit Wounds (2007 ) uses background art to provide richer insights into both the existential fear of complete annihilation experienced by many Israelis during The Second Intifada, and the inability of numerous Israelis to confront this fear directly. Drawing on comics studies, trauma studies, and Israel-Palestine studies the article examines markers of trauma, pulsating in plain sight yet hidden against a foreground of normality. In these backgrounds, recurring references to terror work to juxtapose the pretense of normalcy in the main narrative. By identifying repetitions of a common theme 'braided' throughout the illustrations, the reader has the potential to experience a supplementary affect outside of the narrative continuity of the work. The text simultaneously expresses a reticence to tell and a desire to show—rewarding close readings with a deeper understanding of the dissociative trauma that permeates Modan's Israel.