TRAUMA, MEMORY, AND THE CRISIS OF CONSCIOUSNESS IN DORIS LESSING’S BRIEFING FOR A DESCENT INTO HELL

Yıl 2026, Sayı: 31 , 284 - 293 , 28.04.2026

Cahit Bakır

https://doi.org/10.29029/busbed.1816629

https://izlik.org/JA22RH46NP

Öz

This article explores Doris Lessing’s Briefing for a Descent into Hell (1971) through the lens of trauma and memory studies. Lessing’s “inner space novel” narrates the story of a Cambridge professor of Classics called Charles Watkins, who is found in a state of amnesia and taken to a psychiatric hospital to restore his former self and identity through rational and scientific methods. While in the hospital, Charles transcends the spatial and temporal boundaries of the physical world and embarks on inner journeys through cosmic voyages, apocalyptic visions, and mythic quests. This article argues that Charles’ experiences during his stay at the hospital can be characterized as expressions of trauma and alternative forms of memory. The article, from the perspective of trauma theory, interprets Charles’s amnesia as a traumatic rupture that exceeds individual experience and becomes a medium to critique Western rationalism and individualism. Through Charles’s fragmented memories and visionary journeys, the novel demonstrates how trauma shatters stable identity, disrupts linear time, subverts rationality. The article concludes that Doris Lessing in Briefing for a Descent into Hell offers glimpses of a transcendental alternative realm built on cosmic unity, collective memory, and interconnected existence.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Trauma , Memory , Amnesia , Western rationalism , Interconnectedness

DORIS LESSING'İN BRIEFING FOR A DESCENT INTO HELL ROMANINDA TRAVMA, HAFIZA VE BİLİNÇ KRİZİ

https://izlik.org/JA22RH46NP

Öz

Bu makale, Doris Lessing’in Briefing for a Descent into Hell (1971) adlı romanını travma ve bellek çalışmaları çerçevesinde incelemektedir. Lessing’in “iç uzam” romanı, amnezi hâlinde bulunan ve rasyonel ve bilimsel yöntemlerle eski benliğini ve kimliğini yeniden kazanması amacıyla bir psikiyatri hastanesine götürülen Cambridge Üniversitesi Klasik Edebiyat profesörü Charles Watkins’in hikâyesini anlatır. Hastanede bulunduğu süre boyunca Charles, fiziksel dünyanın mekânsal ve zamansal sınırlarını aşar ve kozmik yolculuklar, apokaliptik vizyonlar ve mitik arayışlar biçiminde çeşitli içsel yolculuklara çıkar. Bu makale, Charles’ın hastanede geçirdiği süre boyunca yaşadığı deneyimlerin, travmanın ve alternatif bellek biçimlerinin ifadeleri olarak nitelendirilebileceğini savunmaktadır. Travma kuramı perspektifinden bakıldığında, makale Charles’ın amnezisini bireysel deneyimin sınırlarını aşan ve Batı rasyonalizmi ile bireycilik anlayışını eleştirmek için bir araca dönüşen travmatik bir kırılma olarak yorumlamaktadır. Roman, Charles’ın parçalı anıları ve düşsel yolculukları aracılığıyla, travmanın istikrarlı kimliği parçaladığını, doğrusal zaman anlayışını bozduğunu ve rasyonalitenin sınırlarını altüst ettiğini ortaya koyar. Makale, sonuç olarak Doris Lessing’in Briefing for a Descent into Hell adlı eserinde kozmik birlik, kolektif bellek ve karşılıklı bağlılık üzerine kurulu aşkın bir alternatif evrene dair ipuçları sunduğu sonucuna varmaktadır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Travma , Bellek , Amnezi , Batı rasyonalizmi , Karşılıklı bağımlılık

Kaynakça

• Bolling, D. (1973). Structure and theme in Briefing for a descent into hell. Contemporary Literature, *14*(4), 549–566.
• Caruth, C. (1996). Unclaimed experience: Trauma, narrative, and history. The Johns Hopkins University Press.
• Felman, S., & Laub, D. (1992). Testimony: Crisis of witnessing in literature, psychoanalysis, and history. Routledge.
• Fishburn, C. (1998). Doris Lessing’s Briefing for a descent into hell: Science fiction or psycho-drama? Science Fiction Studies, *15*(1), 51–60.
• Herman, J. (1997). Trauma and recovery: The aftermath of violence – from domestic abuse to political terror. Basic Books.
• Hirsch, M. (1997). Family frames: Photography, narrative, and postmemory. Harvard University Press.
• Hynes, J. (1994). Doris Lessing’s Briefing as structural life and death. Renascence, *46*(4), 227–235.
• Kamińska, P. (2016). Science-fictionalization of trauma in the works of Doris Lessing. A Journal of Language and Literature, *4*, 84-96.
• LaCapra, D. (2001). Writing history, writing trauma. The Johns Hopkins University Press.
• Lessing, D. (2002). Briefing for a descent into hell. Flamingo Modern Classics.
• Liu, Y. (2022). Mental writing and mental health and cultural identity in Doris Lessing’s science fiction. Journal of Environmental and Public Health, *2022*, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/6132614
• Marder, H. (2002). Borderline fantasies: The two worlds of Briefing for a descent into hell. Papers on Language and Literature, *38*(4), 427–448.
• Rubenstein, R. (2003). Briefing for a descent into hell. In H. Bloom (Ed.), Bloom’s modern critical views: Doris Lessing (pp. 211–234). Chelsea House Publishers.
• Samuelson, D. N. (1979). Briefing for a descent into hell. In F. N. Magill (Ed.), Survey of science fiction literature (Vol. 1, pp. 301–305). Salem Press.
• Şavkay, C. (2010). Lessing’s engagement with Platonic idealism in Briefing for a descent into hell. Doris Lessing Studies, *29*(1), 9–13.