Abstract
This article explores various fictionalizations of the 1965 torture and murder of Sylvia Likens. I examine a number of Sylvia Likens narratives and suggest that these texts reveal a specific pattern and a set of textual marker that identify them as Sylvia Likens narratives. The structures of Sylvia Likens texts mirror the torture methods used by her perpetrators and contribute to the continued (mis)use of her story and her body.
| Translated title of the contribution | (Mis)Using Sylvia Likens: Fictionalizations of a Torture-Murder |
|---|---|
| Original language | Danish |
| Journal | Passage. Tidsskrift for litteratur og kritik |
| Volume | 34 |
| Issue number | 81 |
| Pages (from-to) | 73-85 |
| Number of pages | 13 |
| ISSN | 0901-8883 |
| Publication status | Published - 2 Jun 2019 |
Keywords
- Femicide
- Death
- Elaine Scarry
- Paratext
- True Crime
- Sylvia Marie Likens
- Sylvia Likens
- Torture
- Murder
- American Literature
- American Culture
- American popular Culture
- Kate Millett
- Horror
- Crime Fiction
- Fictionality
- The Beautiful Dead Girl
- The Beautiful Dead White Girl
- Slut-Shaming
- Victim-Blaming
- Intertextuality
- Social Control
- Kim Wall
- Brandon Teena
- Twin Peaks
- Eurocentric Beauty Ideals
- Elizabeth Short
- The Black Dahlia
- Marilyn Monroe
- Laura Palmer
- Death Studies
- Halberstam
- Archive
- Torture Porn
- Jack Ketchum
- Violence
- Elisabeth Bronfen
- Edgar Allan Poe
- Maggie Nelson
- Queer
- Queer Theory
- Queering
- Tomboy
- Abuse
- Child Abuse
- Death and Writing
- Death and Language