SURVIVAL, TRAUMA, AND THE UNCONSCIOUS: A PSYCHOANALYTIC READING OF POST-PANDEMIC NARRATIVES IN FOURTEEN DAYS AND DAY
Keywords:
Post-Pandemic, Survival, Trauma, UnconsciousAbstract
This article looks at the psychoanalytic side of post-pandemic literature by closely reading Fourteen Days (edited by Margaret Atwood and Douglas Preston) and Day by Michael Cunningham. It uses ideas from Freud and trauma studies to see how these stories show survival as an ongoing emotional and mental process, not something that ends quickly. In Fourteen Days, the rooftop becomes a shared space where people tell stories to release emotions and build a sense of community. In Day, the focus is on home life and how small tensions can quietly affect a person’s identity within the family. After studying the settings, symbols, and character interactions, the article shows how these works bring out hidden fears that remain even after the pandemic. Overall, it highlights how literature can help people work through trauma and imagine new ways of understanding themselves after such a crisis.
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Copyright (c) 2025 Dr. Muzaffar Qadir, Warda Muzaffar (Author)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
