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 Anne, AfterwardR. Clifton Spargo (1999) In this short story, we are thrown immediately into the situation of Anne Ramsey, a woman in her mid twenties who is abducted on the streets of Washington D.C., taken prisoner in her own apartment, and sexually assaulted. Thereafter the story shifts dramatically in time and in voice, centering always on the episode of Anne's assault, yet also casting her voice into the future where she recollects the devastation of that day and also measures her own instincts for survival. The wider frame of the story is provided by the perspective of her lover Carter, who tries to accompany Anne imaginatively during an event that he cannot completely understand in order to better know the woman she has become. This story is an innovative experiment in testimonial fiction that charts the ripple effect of sexual violence, which also has an impact on the significant others, or secondhand survivors, in a survivor's life. The story ends in Anne's voice, calling for our understanding of sexual violence as more than a single event, but a trauma with long-term consequences. Esteemed literary critic Harold Bloom has called Anne, Afterward a short story that is "marked for permanence" and if this is so, perhaps it is because the courage and spirit of this story's heroine are as enduring and powerful as trauma itself. Anne, Afterward originally appeared in The North Atlantic Review and, in short form, Soma Magazine.   |