Imagining Argentina

Thornton, Lawrence

Primary Category: Literature / Fiction

Genre: Novel

Annotated by:
Willms, Janice
  • Date of entry: Mar-05-1998

Summary

This mystical tale of memory and imagination in the face of personal tragedy is set in Argentina during the political upheavals of the 1970's. It is a story of the disappeareds, police prisoners spirited away for questionable offenses, tortured, and usually killed. The plot revolves around a man who has the gift of imagining the locations and the futures of many of the missing persons, but he cannot locate, by the same means, his own beloved wife. The power of memory and imagination in guiding an oppressed people through the darkest days of their struggle is the central concern of the work.

Commentary

This is a beautifully written novel, with insights into the human responses to personal and national tragedy that provide an effective mechanism for discussion and understanding of clinical responses to grief and suffering. The book won the PEN American Center West Award for Best Novel of 1987.

Miscellaneous

First published:1987 (Doubleday)

Publisher

Bantam

Place Published

New York

Edition

1988

Page Count

214