| In the 1980s and 1990s, North Americans witnessed an explosion of texts in which protagonists revive memories in order to overcome the debilitating effects of an earlier traumatic event. The proliferation of what I term the recovery narrative within the realms of low-, middle-, and high-brow culture testifies to the pervasive influence of the psychotherapy industry. This dissertation examines both contemporary novels that mimic the therapeutic paradigm in their structure and the debates over repressed memory that have recently called attention to stories of recovery.;In fictional recovery narratives, readers are invited to act as analysts, yet this genre is not one-sided in its representation of therapy or its depiction of memory. The polysemous nature of fiction and the range of texts within the genre guarantee a mixture of viewpoints on recovered memory and on a closely related sociological controversy about the nature and function of the family. By locating the early scenes of trauma within the home, many recovery novels question the assumption that the traditional family provides a safe haven for all its members. Critical of this kind of family's hierarchical structure, its division of labor, and its insularity, recovery texts offer practical suggestions for social reform through alternative relationships that the protagonists develop as a mark of their full recovery. Although novelists writing within this genre represent a variety of stances on identity politics, they all stress the power of storytelling in building communal bonds.;In a culture that was anxious about personal identity, on the lookout for hidden corruption, and becoming more aware of domestic abuse, recovery narratives found a popular audience. These stories aroused controversy, however, when skeptics began questioning the accuracy of memories reconstructed in therapy. The rhetoric used within the ensuing arguments between therapists and their critics suggests that an anxiety about family relationships lies beneath the claims being made about repression and therapeutic practice. |
