Against Amnesia - Contemporary Women Writers and the Crises of Historical Memory (Hardcover)

In "Against Amnesia," Nancy J. Peterson addresses the ongoing postmodernist debate over the possibility and relevance of documentary and official histories. Drawing on Adrienne Rich's claim that women's literature and multicultural literature vigorously resist the amnesia and nostalgia that characterize mainstream North American culture, Peterson examines the struggles toward collective memory in a wealth of contemporary women's writing.
Peterson's in-depth analyses of selected works by Louise Erdrich, Toni Morrison, Irena Klepfisz, Joy Kogawa, and other contemporary women writers illustrate the ways in which these authors recover and represent the historical memories attached to their racial/ethnic backgrounds. Their works probe traumatic moments in the marginalized histories of minority peoples, including Native American genocide and dispossession; African American slavery, migration, and displacement; the Holocaust; and the internment of people of Japanese ancestry during World War II.
Peterson contends that these writers employ literary strategies that call attention to the gaps and silences of official histories. At the same time, these literary strategies allow the authors to narrate resonant counterhistories. Rejecting the playfully imaginative treatment of history found in typical postmodern novels, these contemporary women writers seek to reconstruct historical narratives in their texts and thereby reinvigorate historical memory in contemporary American culture.

General

Imprint:	University of PennsylvaniaPress
Country of origin:	United States
Series:	Penn Studies in Contemporary American Fiction
Release date:	April 2001
First published:	2001
Authors:	Nancy J. Peterson
Dimensions:	216 x 140 x 24mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Hardcover - Paper over boards
Pages:	256
ISBN-13:	978-0-8122-3594-4
Categories:	Books > Language & Literature > Literature: history & criticism > Literary studies > General
LSN:	0-8122-3594-0
Barcode:	9780812235944

Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate? Let us know about it.

Does this product have an incorrect or missing image? Send us a new image.

Is this product missing categories? Add more categories.

Review This Product

No reviews yet - be the first to create one!