The political power of soundscapes in communicating trauma in Esi Edugyan’s Half-Blood Blues

“This MRP will examine how sound informs and is informed by political power dynamics in Edugyan’s novel [Half-Blood Blues] to reveal how representations of soundscapes have the potential to communicate what the spoken word cannot. By referring to scholar Cathy Caruth’s discussion of narrative depictions of trauma as a mental wound on the body (Unclaimed 4), I will argue that the representations of sound in Edugyan’s fiction can fill in the space where the imagined dialogue fails to reflect the severity of traumatic musicians. Ultimately, both the representations of sound and the silencing of victims reflect the racialized political climate of Half-Blood Blues.” – from introduction