“Echoes of War”: In Conversation with Brian Turner

Abstract

This interview endeavours to gain first-hand insight into Brian Turner’s creative process and experiences as a war poet. The interviewer is pursuing her doctoral thesis on “Bearing Witness to Violence: A Socio-Cultural and Psychoanalytical Study of Select Modern World Poets.” Brian Turner is among the selected poets, along with Anna Akhmatova, Nelly Sachs, Mahmoud Darwish, and Agha Shahid Ali. In the interview, the discussion focusses on Turner’s two significant works: Here, Bullet (2005) and Phantom Noise (2010). The interview aims to understand Turner’s philosophy of poetic witnessing, especially in relation to trauma, silence, and memory. Turner reflects on the psychological aftermath of war and the search for meaning amidst devastation. He laid special emphasis on how literature functions as a medium for understanding, processing and representing trauma, both for himself and the readers. He also contemplates the dual role of a soldier — both as an agent of violence and a witness to the suffering and death around him.