Domestic noir in Anglo-American Literature

Abstract

Domestic noir in Anglo-American Literature Maria Antónia Lima University of Évora, Évora; University of Lisbon Centre for English Studies, Lisbon, Portugal  In order to highlight the contribution of Literature to the study of Domestic Violence, this essay will reflect on the relevance of some Anglo-American literary works, integrated in the Domestic Gothic or Domestic Noir, a subgenre of the psychological thriller, distinguished by the peculiarity of representing a woman in danger as its main character. The family can be the most commonly considered luminous space of harmony, affection and quiet domesticity, but everything can turn upside down whenever this stereotype is reversed drastically. The so-called domestic noir, a new genre popularized in 2013, deals with these dualities, demonstrating that gothic fiction has always been interested in family conflicts and domestic violence in its most varied forms, turning them into sources of terror so relevant to our time.