Narratives of Violence

Narratives of Violence is a contribution to the ethical turn in literary studies. In the current context of systemic political violence unleashed in the wake of 9/11 and the global advance of capitalism and neoliberalism, literature constitutes a particularly timely device to raise awareness about injustice, the abuse of power, and the violation of human rights. Literature may also be helpful in order to face social challenges such as peaceful coexistence with immigrants and displaced people, and the settling of refugees. This book is an invitation to read a selection of narratives of violence anchored in different geopolitical realities, and located in historical contexts ranging from the beginning of the 20th century to the present day. By adopting ethical criticism in order to tackle the dilemmas posed by these stories, we aim to contribute to the configuration of global imaginaries based on respect, recognition, and empathy, especially towards those who are most vulnerable. This collection offers critical readings of works of various genres, originally written in different languages. Authors discussed comprise Mrīrīda nʾait ʿAtiq (Morocco), Janina Hescheles (Poland), Eva Koch (Denmark), María Galindo (Bolivia) and Sonia Sánchez (Argentina), Najat El Hachmi (Morocco-Catalonia), Arundhati Roy (India), Leila Abdelrazaq (Palestine), and Yū Miri, Murata Sayaka, and Kawakami Mieko (Japan). The corpus includes biographical, autobiographical, testimonial, and fictional narratives, sometimes very close to documentary or life history. The works analysed in this collection portray experiences of violence and oppression caused by social, political, economic, and military conflicts. The novelty of this book lies in the challenge it poses to the Western-centric and patriarchal bias often found in similar collections of scholarly essays. Thus, the book focuses on female authors, seeking to give visibility and voice to women victims, generally forgotten in hegemonic cultural discourses.