Cyborg Psyche: Memory, Trauma and Identity in Cyborg Narratives

Aleena Mariya¹, Dr. Pritha Biswas²

¹PhD Scholar, Christ (Deemed to be University), Bengaluru.

²Associate professor, Department of Professional Studies, Christ (Deemed to be University), Bengaluru.

Abstract

Cyborg characters of the cold war-era science fiction address several anxieties, fears, and confusions, regarding the intrusion of technologies into human bodies, to restore, replace and enhance the human body. Cyborg narratives from the period also use memory as a tether to humanity and identity, pondering on what makes one human. In science fiction, memory is often projected as fragmented, disrupting the characters from regaining their lost sense of identity and self. Such cyborg characters seem to battle the loss of their sense ofself, as they get adjusted to a reconstituted body, often leading to severe trauma. Situating cyborg figures within the geopolitical tensions and technological anxieties of the cold war-era, the study inspects how cyborg bodies become narrative sites that negotiate memory, trauma, identity, and healing. Drawing on post humanist thought, memory and trauma studies, the paper attempts to highlight that cyborg characters of the cold war eraare not merely speculative constructs, but embodiments of fractured psyche shaped by military tensions, technological anxieties, and personal conflicts. Analyzing Martin Caidin’s Cyborg novel series and Algis Budrys’s novel Who?, the study examines how the portrayal of cyborg psyche rewrites human identity and trauma, after the reconstruction of the injured body, using technologically enhanced prosthetics.

Keywords: Cyborg literature, Fragmented memory, Trauma, Identity, Posthumanism.