Interpreting Violence focuses on the entanglement of violence, narrative, and ethics from the perspectives of a wide range of disciplines and aesthetic media. It engages with different forms and levels of violence from discursive and structural violence to physical, embodied violence and examines their entwined relationship. In contrast to most research on violence, which aims at explaining the causes and effects of violence, this book deals solely with the experiential dimensions of violence evoked by narratives and representations in order to explore their ethical potential for making mechanisms of violence visible and promoting nonviolent forms of interpretation and understanding. The book will be of interest to literary and cultural critics, intellectual historians, philosophers and psychologists interested in violence as a historically persistent, yet context sensitive phenomenon. As more and more public attention turns to the mediation and memorialization of violent histories, scholarly attention to violence will grow. Although not primarily aimed at a student audience, the collection is written in an approachable style, which will make it a valuable resource for researchers at all stages including students. In particular, postgraduate students interested in the ways violence is narrativized, will find the volume useful. While primarily a research resource, the collection will also be of interest to advanced undergraduates in interdisciplinary courses on violence (such as in peace studies programs).
