Amnesia and Redress in Contemporary American Fiction

The December 2006 Iran Holocaust Denial Conference and the following international excoriation of it reveal a paradox of two cultural strands that are emblematic of the legacy of the twentieth century: official denial and historical amnesia on the one hand; and public, cooperative attempts at truth telling and redress on the other. Amnesia and Redress in Contemporary American Fiction shows how this dynamic of amnesia and truth telling shapes literary constructions of history. Focusing on works by Don DeLillo, Toni Morrison, Michelle Cliff, Bharati Mukherjee, and Julie Otsuka, Marni Gauthier identifies a new form of the historical novel that, arising from this distinct climate, articulates a politics of truth.