Thornton, Lawrence : Imagining Argentina

Literature Annotations

Genre	Novel (214 pp.)
Keywords	Freedom, Grief, Latina/Latino Experience, Memory, Suffering, Time, Trauma
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.
Publisher	Bantam
Edition	1988
Place Published	New York
Miscellaneous	First published:1987 (Doubleday)
Annotated by	Willms, Janice L.
Date of Entry	06/26/95
Last Revised	03/05/98