This book describes and analyses a particular literary mode that challenges the aesthetics of testimony by approaching the past through detection, analysis, and 'archaeological' digging. How does forensic literature narrate the past in terms of plot, language, narration, and use of visual media? This volume examines how forensic literature provides an important corrective to the forensic paradigm and a means of exploring the relationship between visual and material evidence and various forms of testimony. This literary engagement with the past is investigated in order to challenge a forensic paradigm that aims to eliminate the problems related to human testimony through scientific objectivity, resulting in a fresh and original text in which Bøndergaard argues literature's potential to explore the mechanisms of representation, interpretation, and narration.

Autorentext

Johanne Helbo Bøndergaard completed her Ph.D at Aarhus University in 2015. Her research areas include cultural memory studies, narratology and comparative literature.

Klappentext

Inhalt

1. Introduction. - 2. After Testimony.- 3. Forensic Traces.- 4. Forensic Narration.- 5. Conclusion.