Heartbreakers: Women and Violence in Contemporary Culture and Literature

Hendin offers an intriguing and comprehensive study of violent women, their motivations, the conditions that provoke them and the feelings of fear, anger and erotic desire they can inspire in others. Though wordy, hyper-detailed prose and an overflow of academic theory on political, social and gender studies slow the book's pace in sections, the author persuasively argues that violent women""highlight and dramatize the pressures on women who are not violent and on a culture still absorbing their changing roles."" A professor of English and Italian-American studies at New York University, Hendin is at her best when analyzing specific cases--from mythology, film, fiction, poetry and contemporary society--and when discussing how these women can make both conservatives and liberals uneasy. From the Lorena Bobbitts and Susan Smiths who maim or kill their lovers or relatives to the Bonnie Parkers and Lynette Frommes who wreak terror on strangers, the dangerous dames that populate this book use violence for numerous and often contradictory reasons. Motivated by egotism, rage, sorrow or self-hatred, they may try to show their strength by killing off their weaker--and more traditionally feminine--characteristics, like vulnerability and passivity, or they may rebel against a patriarchal society in which the subjugation and abuse of women seems to be condoned. With her background in literature, Hendin brings more insight to her analyses of books and poetry than she does to her coverage of films and news media. Highlights include her appraisals of Toni Morrison's Beloved, Janet Fitch's White Oleander and Diana Trilling's Mrs. Harris, a hypercritical book about convicted Scarsdale diet doctor killer Jean Harris.