How Literature Can Crack Open Our Understanding of Trauma and Healing
Imagine living in a transparent tower where every movement is monitored, your emotions are regulated by technology, and your body is constantly measured for optimal performance. This is the haunting world of Karoline Georges's novel Under the Stone, a work that might seem like pure science fiction but offers profound insights into how we understand trauma, healing, and what it means to be human.
At first glance, literary analysis and healthcare seem worlds apart, but an emerging field called medical humanities bridges these disciplines, using tools from literature, philosophy, and the arts to explore human experiences of health, illness, and treatment.
A groundbreaking study titled "On the Lookout for a Crack: Disruptive Becomings in Karoline Georges's Novel Under the Stone" examines how Georges's narrative provides thought-provoking material about body sovereignty, bioethics, and life protection in an increasingly technologically mediated world 1 .
The research, presented at a global medical humanities conference at Cambridge University, demonstrates how literary analysis can help us reimagine responses to embodied trauma and the overwhelming sense of fear that often accompanies it 1 4 .
"In our age of rapidly advancing biotechnology and artificial intelligence, where the boundaries between human bodies and technological systems continue to blur, Georges's novel and the scholarly work analyzing it could not be more relevant."
To understand the significance of this research, we need to first explore the theoretical framework that Dominique Hétu applies to Georges's novel. The study draws primarily on the philosophical concepts of Deleuze and Guattari, specifically their idea of "becoming" 1 . In their philosophical system, "becoming" refers to continuous processes of change and transformation that resist fixed identities or static states of being. A "disruptive becoming," then, is a transformation that fundamentally challenges or subverts established systems of power and control.
The research also incorporates Sara Ahmed's notions of stranger and encounter to analyze how the novel spatializes oppressive power dynamics and imagines subversive forms of emergence 1 . Ahmed's work on stranger relations helps us understand how boundaries are drawn between different social groups, and what happens when those boundaries are crossed or dissolved.
Perhaps most intriguingly, Hétu complicates the literary text's discourse on space and body by relying on wonder studies to examine the alternative forms of "careful attunement" enacted through the protagonist's "affective and disembodied awakening" 1 . This approach allows for an analysis of how moments of wonder or astonishment can open up possibilities for resistance and transformation, even within highly controlled environments.
At the heart of Hétu's analysis is the powerful concept of the "crack" – a metaphorical opening in systems of control that makes transformation possible. In Under the Stone, this crack represents what the research describes as an opportunity for "subversive emergence" – a way of escaping from what the novel itself calls "the incessant movement of automatic components that delineate presence in the world" 1 .
The crack isn't a physical rupture in the Tower's structure but rather a conceptual, psychological, and ultimately political space where alternative ways of being can emerge. It's through this crack that the protagonist experiences what Hétu identifies as an "affective and disembodied awakening" – a moment of profound realization that allows for an escape from the automated existence enforced by the Tower's systems of control 1 .
This concept of the crack resonates strongly with contemporary discussions in mental health and trauma treatment. The sense of passivity and overwhelm that often accompanies trauma can make the possibility of transformation seem remote at best. Hétu's research suggests that Georges's novel imagines responses to this sense of powerlessness not through direct confrontation with oppressive systems, but through finding and widening these barely perceptible cracks in the system 1 .
Recognizing where systems of thought or behavior have become inflexible and automated.
Locating subtle opportunities for transformation within seemingly rigid structures.
Developing awareness of emotional and bodily experiences that signal potential for change.
Cultivating alternative ways of being that challenge dominant systems without direct confrontation.
Hétu's approach to Georges's novel can be understood as a form of qualitative literary analysis – a methodological approach that shares much in common with qualitative research methods used in the health sciences. While not a traditional experiment with control groups and measurable outcomes, this systematic analysis of the novel's themes, structures, and philosophical underpinnings follows rigorous scholarly protocols that ensure valid and reliable interpretations 3 .
Repeated, careful engagement with Georges's novel to identify key themes, symbols, and narrative structures.
Applying frameworks of Deleuze and Guattari, Sara Ahmed, and wonder studies to uncover layers of meaning.
Situating the analysis within broader discussions about trauma, embodiment, and care.
Drawing connections between literary analysis and questions about bioethics, body sovereignty, and life protection 1 .
This approach involves "several back-and-forth steps between data collection and analysis where new insights and experiences can lead to adaption and expansion of the original plan" 3 .
Just as laboratory scientists have their specialized instruments and reagents, scholars conducting literary analysis within medical humanities work with a distinctive set of theoretical tools. Hétu's research employs several key "research reagents" – conceptual frameworks that help reveal important aspects of how trauma, healing, and resistance operate within Georges's novel.
| Tool/Concept | Function in Analysis | Role in "On the Lookout for a Crack" |
|---|---|---|
| Geophilosophy | Examines how space and power intersect | Reveals the Tower as spatialization of oppressive power |
| Wonder Studies | Investigates astonishment as cognitive and affective mode | Explores protagonist's disembodied awakening |
| Disruptive Becomings | Identifies moments of transformative resistance | Analyzes cracks in system as sites of potential change |
| Medical Humanities | Bridges arts/humanities with healthcare concepts | Connects literary analysis to trauma treatment insights |
Helps researchers understand how physical and social spaces shape possibilities for action and identity. In Hétu's analysis, this framework reveals how the Tower in Under the Stone isn't merely a setting but an active force that structures and restricts the protagonist's experiences 1 .
Provides a lens for examining moments of astonishment, surprise, or marvel that disrupt ordinary perception and cognition. Hétu uses this framework to analyze the protagonist's "affective and disembodied awakening" as a form of careful attunement to possibilities beyond the Tower's automated existence 1 .
Allows researchers to identify and analyze moments in narratives where characters undergo transformations that challenge or subvert existing power structures. Hétu applies this concept to the "cracks" in Georges's novel – those barely perceptible openings where alternative ways of being become possible 1 .
The significance of Hétu's research extends far beyond the specific analysis of a single novel. The study offers what the medical humanities field describes as the "critical and political promise of promoting and including otherwise marginalised voices and practices in medicine" 4 . By applying philosophical and literary critical tools to a work of fiction, Hétu demonstrates how arts-based approaches can help us reimagine responses to trauma and overwhelm.
This research exemplifies what the medical humanities does at its best: using tools from the arts, social sciences, and humanities to view and analyze "medical practice, knowledge and beliefs, and experiences of health and/or illness from perspectives beyond the imperialism of biomedicine in our daily lives" 4 . Where a strictly biomedical approach might focus primarily on pharmaceutical or behavioral interventions for trauma, Hétu's literary analysis helps us understand the spatial, affective, and philosophical dimensions of traumatic experience and potential healing.
The study also contributes to important conversations about bioethics and body sovereignty – conversations that become increasingly urgent as biotechnology advances and offers new possibilities for monitoring and modifying human bodies 1 .
Georges's novel, as interpreted through Hétu's analysis, provides a space for thinking critically about what happens when these technological capabilities are deployed in service of social control rather than individual or collective flourishing.
Dominique Hétu's "On the Lookout for a Crack: Disruptive Becomings in Karoline Georges's Novel Under the Stone" represents exactly the kind of interdisciplinary work that the medical humanities aims to foster. By bringing philosophical frameworks to bear on a literary text, the research demonstrates what the field's proponents describe as its "ability to imagine otherwise" – to view and analyze medical practice, knowledge, and experiences of health and illness from perspectives beyond conventional biomedicine 4 .
The concept of the "crack" that gives Hétu's study its title offers a powerful metaphor for thinking about transformation not as dramatic revolution but as the subtle widening of existing fissures in systems of control. This has profound implications for how we understand resistance, healing, and change – whether in therapeutic contexts, social movements, or personal journeys of recovery from trauma.
As biotechnology continues to advance and offer new possibilities for monitoring and modifying human bodies, the questions that Hétu explores through Georges's novel become increasingly urgent. What does it mean to maintain body sovereignty in a world of increasingly sophisticated biometric monitoring? How do we preserve spaces for "disruptive becomings" – for transformations that challenge established systems of control and classification? 1
Hétu's research doesn't offer easy answers to these questions, but it provides something perhaps more valuable: a set of conceptual tools and a compelling example of how literary analysis can help us think more deeply and creatively about the challenges and possibilities of healing in a technologically mediated world. In doing so, it exemplifies how the medical humanities can "fill in blind spots" in current medical research and practice 3 – bringing attention to dimensions of human experience that might otherwise be overlooked in a predominantly biomedical paradigm.
In the end, studies like Hétu's remind us that literature offers not just escape from our world, but powerful new ways of imagining how it might be otherwise. As we navigate various personal and collective crises, we might all benefit from learning to be "on the lookout for a crack" – those barely perceptible openings where transformation becomes possible.