ABSTRACT
ToniMorrison'sBeloved(1987}engagesinthechallengingtaskofproviding aliteraryandimaginativemodelforacomplexpsychicphenomenon-traumaticneurosis-bylocatingitinaspecificculturalandhistoricalcontext: theinstitutionofslaveryanditsaftermath.ThehauntedlivesofSetheand theotherinhabitantsof124BluestoneRoadofferMorrisontheoccasionto investigatethemeaningofsurvivalundertheburdenofmemoriestoo painfultobeassimilated.Morespecifically,atthecoreofMorrison'snovel liesaperceptiveinsightabouttheworkingsoftraumaandimpossible mourningthatintuitivelyechoes,transforms,andrelocatesFreud'stheoryof traumaticlatency.Freuddescribestraumaastheparadoxical presence/absenceofunassimilable,fragmentedtraumaticmemories,which hedefinesthroughasuggestivemetaphor,thatofaquasi-palpable"foreign body."InMorrison'stextthiscorporealintrusiveforce,apsychicexcessthat refusesintegration,becomesnotonlytheghostlycharacterofthemurdered childbutalsotheenergythatsustainsthenarrativeanditsdevelopment. LatencyinhabitsBeloved,therefore,intheformofacomplexandmultilayered"foreignbody,"ametaphorthatnamesboththepsychicandexperientialrealityoftheCincinnaticommunityoffreedslaves.WhileFreud recognizesthephysical,sensory,evenmotoriccomponentoftraumatic memories,MorrisonsituatesthisinsightinAfricanAmericanexperience, wheretheforeignbodyoftraumaticmemoriesisalwayssimultaneouslyalso thevictimizedblackbodyoftheslave.Corporealized,thetraumaticmemory thatresistsassimilationbecomesatextualsiteof"latentreadability'':Aplace wherereferencere-enterstheframeworkintheformofthefirstdeniedand thenpossiblyrecuperatedbodyofthosetraumatizedbyslaveryandracist ideologiesaswellastheunassimilablememoryofpain.Thus,thetext,by
enactingtheinvertedlogicthatstructurestrauma{inwhichpresencedenotes absenceandviceversa),encouragesustoreadthepresenceofthismnemonic excessasasignoftheabsenceofthephysicalbody.
