Body, nation, and narrative in the Americas
By: Kristin E. Pitt
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Published: 2010
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 211
ISBN-13: 9780230107137
Description: Body, Nation, and Narrative in the Americas reveals the central role of disappearing and dying bodies within the literature of the Americas, arguing that anxiety regarding the power of the state over the citizen is a defining feature of New World cultural productions. This timely investigation contextualizes disappearance and detention within a framework of literary narratives depicting the dangers facing citizens of the Americas. Kristin E. Pitt examines a wide range of sources, from Hawthorne to Faulkner to Danticat, and finds a persistent focus on the body that links contemporary practices of political terror to inter-American concerns about corporality and sovereignty.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction: disappearing citizens: body, nation, and narrative in the Americas; title: Buried citizens: landing a nation in Jose de Alencar and Nathaniel Hawthorne; title: Lost citizens: memory and mourning in William Faulkner and Elena Garro; title: Tortured citizens: terror and dissidence in Luisa Valenzuela and Edwidge Danticat; title: Postscript: disappearing threats: reflections on security, immigration, and detention.