Re-Imagined Identities: Deconstructing Founding Trauma in Gilbert Gatore’s The Past Ahead

Gilbert Gatore’s The Past Ahead has received both praise and criticism since its publication in 2008. The debate was sparked in part by the author’s representation of identity conflict concerning the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. The novel captures the psyches of both victim and perpetrator as they experience extreme traumatic events. Shattered and affected by ‘a founding trauma’, the characters acquire new identities. This study aims to analyze the relationship between trauma and identity in The Past Ahead through the lens of Dominick LaCapra’s trauma theory. According to LaCapra, this relationship starts with a founding trauma from which victims try to rebuild their sense of self through creative and psychological processes.