Historical Nightmares and Imaginative Violence in American Women’s Writings

A considerable number of women’s novels document histories of ferocity and abuse. Amy Gottfried examines a sampling of these novels, including Toni Morrison’s Beloved , Cynthia Ozick’s The Shawl and Leslie Marmon Silko’s epic Almanac of the Dead . From the perspective of social and historical conditions influencing much of contemporary women’s writings, she investigates the use of violence in these novels. She argues that the authors discussed wield violence both to uncover long-suppressed stories and to dramatically change the perspectives from which these stories have traditionally been told and heard. While focusing on American fiction, the author explores narrative strategies and styles. Pivotal to Gottfried’s interpretive readings are the effects of gender, nationality and race. She particularly addresses the complicated and shifting relationships between art and violence, as well as between history and memory. She also identifies two types of violence: the brutal acts with which these narratives originate, and the fiercely imaginative acts necessary to change the histories being retold and reclaimed.