Transatlantic Dialogues: Memory, Trauma, and Polyphony in Yaa Gyasi's Homegoing and Toni Morrison's Beloved

Abstract

This article examines the interplay of memory, trauma, and polyphony in Yaa Gyasi’s Homegoing and Toni Morrison’s Beloved, two major works that explore the African diaspora’s enduring legacy of slavery across the transatlantic world. Through a comparative literary analysis, the study investigates how both novels employ polyphonic narrative structures to articulate the intergenerational impact of historical violence, while offering distinct approaches to memory and trauma. In Homegoing, Gyasi traces the divergent paths of two half-sisters across centuries using a multi-generational, multi-perspective narrative to map the transmission of cultural memory and trauma from Ghana to America. Conversely, Morrison’s Beloved employs a lyrical, haunting narrative centred on Sethe’s personal trauma, with the ghost of Beloved embodying “rememory” as a site of both oppression and healing. Drawing from trauma theory, narrative theory, and postcolonial scholarship, the article argues that both authors use polyphonic voices to reclaim silenced histories and assert agency within the African diaspora. While Homegoing emphasizes historical breadth and resilience, Beloved delves into psychological depth and communal restoration. The comparative analysis highlights their shared motifs and their divergent narrative strategies, and reveals how these texts engage in a transatlantic dialogue about identity, loss, and survival. This study underscores the contributions of the two novels to understanding the historical consciousness of the Black Atlantic and its relevance to contemporary discussions of race and memory. The article calls for further exploration of diasporic narratives to illuminate the global dimensions of the afterlife of slavery, and offers new insights into the power of literature to bridge historical ruptures.