In “Rape, Rapture and Revision: Visionary Imagery and Historical Reconstruction in Elsa Morante's La Storia,” I discuss Morante's revision of official history and her revalorization of personal history. My main focus is a reading of the main character's rape by a German soldier. I suggest that the rape may be read positively as well as negatively; that it positively refigures personal historical narratives and inverts the power dynamics of rape and official history. I do this by considering it through the lens of visionary medieval writings as a sort of rapture. Thus, I suggest a comparison between Ida's rape, sexual awakening and narratives of religious ecstasy.
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