Gestures of Testimony

Torture, Trauma, and Affect in Literature

Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism, American, Theory
Cover of the book Gestures of Testimony by Dr Michael Richardson, Bloomsbury Publishing
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Dr Michael Richardson ISBN: 9781501315817
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Publication: July 14, 2016
Imprint: Bloomsbury Academic Language: English
Author: Dr Michael Richardson
ISBN: 9781501315817
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication: July 14, 2016
Imprint: Bloomsbury Academic
Language: English

After 9/11, the United States became a nation that sanctioned torture. Detainees across the globe were waterboarded, deprived of sleep, beaten by guards, blasted with deafening music and forced into obscene acts. Their torture presents a profound problem for literature: torturous pain and its traumatic aftermath have long been held to destroy language, shatter experience, and refuse representation. Challenging accepted thinking, Gestures of Testimony asks how literature might bear witness to the tortures of a war waged against fear itself.

Bringing the vibrant field of affect theory to bear on theories of torture and power, Richardson adopts an interdisciplinary approach to show how testimony founded in affect can bear witness to torture and its traumas. Grounded in provocative readings of poems by Guantanamo detainees, memoirs of interrogators and detainees, contemporary films, the Bush Administration's Torture Memos, and fiction by George Orwell, Franz Kafka, Arthur Koestler, Anne Michaels, and Janette Turner Hospital, Michael Richardson traces the workings of affect, biopower, and aesthetics to re-think literary testimony. Gestures of Testimony gives shape to a mode of affective witnessing, a reaching beyond the page in the writing of torture that reveals violent trauma - even as it embodies its veiling.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

After 9/11, the United States became a nation that sanctioned torture. Detainees across the globe were waterboarded, deprived of sleep, beaten by guards, blasted with deafening music and forced into obscene acts. Their torture presents a profound problem for literature: torturous pain and its traumatic aftermath have long been held to destroy language, shatter experience, and refuse representation. Challenging accepted thinking, Gestures of Testimony asks how literature might bear witness to the tortures of a war waged against fear itself.

Bringing the vibrant field of affect theory to bear on theories of torture and power, Richardson adopts an interdisciplinary approach to show how testimony founded in affect can bear witness to torture and its traumas. Grounded in provocative readings of poems by Guantanamo detainees, memoirs of interrogators and detainees, contemporary films, the Bush Administration's Torture Memos, and fiction by George Orwell, Franz Kafka, Arthur Koestler, Anne Michaels, and Janette Turner Hospital, Michael Richardson traces the workings of affect, biopower, and aesthetics to re-think literary testimony. Gestures of Testimony gives shape to a mode of affective witnessing, a reaching beyond the page in the writing of torture that reveals violent trauma - even as it embodies its veiling.

More books from Bloomsbury Publishing

Cover of the book Mary Wollstonecraft by Dr Michael Richardson
Cover of the book Dreams and Visions in the World of Islam by Dr Michael Richardson
Cover of the book Vernon Downs by Dr Michael Richardson
Cover of the book Forugh Farrokhzad, Poet of Modern Iran by Dr Michael Richardson
Cover of the book The Yeomen of the Guard and the Early Tudors by Dr Michael Richardson
Cover of the book Plastic Figurines by Dr Michael Richardson
Cover of the book The Marvel Studios Phenomenon by Dr Michael Richardson
Cover of the book Soviet Cold War Guided Missile Cruisers by Dr Michael Richardson
Cover of the book German Infantryman vs Soviet Rifleman by Dr Michael Richardson
Cover of the book The Ruling Class by Dr Michael Richardson
Cover of the book Where to Watch Birds in Britain by Dr Michael Richardson
Cover of the book The Choice of Law Contract by Dr Michael Richardson
Cover of the book The Theatre of David Henry Hwang by Dr Michael Richardson
Cover of the book Political Polarization in American Politics by Dr Michael Richardson
Cover of the book Hard Travellin' by Dr Michael Richardson
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy