Literary Trauma: Sadism, Memory, and Sexual Violence in American Women's Fiction

Examines representations of political, psychological, and sexual violence in seven novels by American women.

This book examines portrayals of political and psychological trauma, particularly sexual trauma, in the work of seven American women writers. Concentrating on novels by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Pauline Hopkins, Gayl Jones, Leslie Marmon Silko, Dorothy Allison, Joyce Carol Oates, and Margaret Atwood, Horvitz investigates whether memories of violent and oppressive trauma can be preserv...