Expropriated Bodies: Victims of Father-Daughter Incest in Three Contemporary Irish Novels

Abstract

This article explores the representation of father-daughter incest victims as expropriated bodies in three contemporary Irish novels: In Night’s City (1982) by Dorothy Nelson, The Invisible Worm (1991) by Jennifer Johnston and Another Alice (1996) by Lia Mills. The protagonists of these novels are young women who, in order to cope with life, try to come to terms with a painful past marked by abominable episodes of sexual abuse. The literary representation of their bodies, locus of sexual exploitation, is examined from a feminist psychoanalytic approach with a dual focus: first, attention is paid to the way in which these bodies are perceived by the perpetrators —as commodities—, by the girls themselves —as alienated properties without any value— and by Irish Society in a more broad sense —as abject; and second, analysis is shifted to the inner struggle the protagonists undergo to reappropriate their bodies and, consequently, their lives.