Is revenge an expression of rage, pain, strength, frailty, justice, or sadism? A complex emotion, revenge defies simple definitions since it is infused with different social codes and ethics. It is this intricate connection between the idea of revenge and its connections with history, aesthetics, socio-political constructs, racism, and religion that this volume attempts to explore. Moving across continents and cultures, the book examine a wide range of emotional and geographical terrains like the law of karma, gender violence, epic narratives, caste system, and cinema in India; the horror of the Holocaust and metaphysical revenge; witchcraft in Ghana, South Africa, and Namibia; Greek mythology; and sexual and emotional abuse of women by a Portuguese Brazilian slave holder.
Notes on Contributors
Introduction
Vibha Singh Chauhan Lily Halpert-Zamir
Holocaust Literature as Metaphysical Revenge
Lily Halpert-Zamir
Hindi Cinema and the Avenging Woman
Nirmalya Samanta
From the Brink of the Inferno to the Long Road to Innocence: an Anatomy of Rape
Sandhya S. Nayar
The Runaway Prodigal: a Study of Rebellion and Reconciliation
Minnie Mattheew
Vengeance and Witchcraft: An African Perspective
Sheila C. Bibb
Making Generations: Corregidora as a Revenge Novel
Shaheena Ayub Bhatti
Subversion as Revenge: an Alternative Reading of Hegemonic Culture by Dalits in India
Ruchi Singh
Revenge and Retribution in Society, Politics and Literature in India
Vibha Singh Chauhan
Index
Vibha Singh Chauhan, Associate Professor, Zakir Husain Delhi College, University of Delhi, is a widely published critical and creative writer who works in three languages, English, Hindi and Bhojpuri. Her major research interests are non-urban cultures, translation studies, and political and legal studies.
Lily Halpert-Zamir is a senior lecturer at the David Yellin Academic College of Education in Jerusalem, a member of its Academic Council and the head of its Centre for Womens and Gender Studies. She has published several books, four of which deal with the Holocaust, as well as dozens of articles in Hebrew and English that focus on Holocaust and gender studies.