War Beyond the Battlefield: Resonances of Trauma, Memory, and Resilience in Zoulfa Katouh's ‘As Long As the Lemon Trees Grow’

Abstract

This paper is an exploration of how trauma, memory, and resilience are depicted in a young adult novel ‘As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow’ (2022) by Zoulfa Katouh, which unfolds during the Syrian civil war. Employing close reading and thematic analysis, the paper shows how the author employs narrative techniques of hallucination, fragmentation of time, intrusive memories, and survivor’s guilt as a way of portraying trauma. Following a hybrid theoretical approach consisting of both the classical trauma theory (Caruth, 1996; Herman, 1992) and the postcolonial trauma approaches (Craps, 2013; Visser, 2015, 2018), the reading explores the connections between individual mental suffering and trauma of the collective: that of war, displacement, and historical violence. The paper points out how the process of resilience is reflected in memory, narrative, and personal relationships, which enables the main character to get through her experience and restore agency. Situated within the larger body of young adult trauma literature alongside texts like The Kite Runner, Salt to the Sea and The Island of Missing Trees, Katouh’s novel demonstrates the potential of young adult novels to act as a witness of a conflict and catalyst of empathy. The study adds to the perspective of trauma research, postcolonial critical theory, and the dynamic debate of non-Western experiences in the writing of young adult literature.