The story of Anna P. : as told by herself
type: CreativeWork
description: This is a book about the fragility of memory and identity, and the nature of time. It has three parts reflecting the past, present and future of a woman, Anna P, who lives on an island off the coast of Italy but can no longer remember how she got there. She comes from South Africa but has almost no memories of the place or people there, and no attachment to them. The only person she has any relationship with is a sex worker whom she pays by the hour. Her life is meaningless. She has abusive encounters with unknown men, clearly repetitions of traumatic events in the past, during which she dissociates. It is not clear whether she occasionally kills these men or not. It is only when she begins to connect emotionally with a slightly retarded child, and her self begins to coagulate around a tiny centre core of meaning, that she finds some value in herself, some place which she will not allow to be abused. Through connection with another person, she comes into an ethical relationship with the world.
abstract: This is a book about the fragility of memory and identity, and the nature of time. It has three parts reflecting the past, present and future of a woman, Anna P, who lives on an island off the coast of Italy but can no longer remember how she got there. She comes from South Africa but has almost no memories of the place or people there, and no attachment to them. The only person she has any relationship with is a sex worker whom she pays by the hour. Her life is meaningless. She has abusive encounters with unknown men, clearly repetitions of traumatic events in the past, during which she dissociates. It is not clear whether she occasionally kills these men or not. It is only when she begins to connect emotionally with a slightly retarded child, and her self begins to coagulate around a tiny centre core of meaning, that she finds some value in herself, some place which she will not allow to be abused. Through connection with another person, she comes into an ethical relationship with the world.
author: Busetto, Penny
language: eng
date published: 2011
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:23:02Z
provider: University of Cape Town
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Department of English Language and Literature

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/13409