The Politics of Cruelty: An Essay on the Literature of Political Imprisonment

In an awkward mix of reportage, literary meditation and political analysis, Millett ( Sexual Politics ) here contemplates the widespread modern use of torture. Beginning with Stalin's state terror and Hitler's extermination camps, she goes on to consider French troops' torture of Algerians, British torture of Irish political prisoners since the 1920s and South African practices under apartheid. She ponders photographs of torture victims and the enormity of torture through the prism of Sartre, Primo Levi, Solzhenitsyn, George Bataille; she profiles dissenters who were transformed by their prison experiences in Kenya, China, India. Millett reports on legalized torture in Iran, and draws on testimonies of recent torture victims in Central and South America. She concludes this disturbing survey by calling for popular pressure to compel governments to abolish torture. Photos not seen by PW. Author tour. (Mar.)