The Pear Tree

by Carlson, Eric Stener

• ISBN13: 9780932863454
• ISBN10: 0932863450
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-02-28
• Publisher: Clarity Pr

Summary

Late one night, Eric Stener Carlson sat down to review witness statements of torture victims splayed across his desk ... and so this book began. It takes us on a journey from the mass graves of Argentina, to the desolate slums of Peru, to the brutality of the Dominican Republic and the rape camps of the former Yugoslavia. As the scenery and actors change, three elements surface again and again, like worn rocks on the beach. The stranger we fear. The child who is kidnapped. And the torture we use to save her. It is here, at the desolate intersection of these elements, that Carlson asks the dreadful question, "Is torture ever justified?" Lyrical and haunting, The Pear Tree is a stark exposition of torturers and victims, and the witnesses who choose to support one side or the other. Book jacket.

Table of Contents

Foreword	13	(2)
Richard Pierre Claude
Author's Introduction	15	(4)
Insomnia	19	(4)
The Garden	23	(2)
The Stranger	25	(3)
The Millstone	28	(5)
The Fortress	33	(3)
Of Love and Whores	36	(5)
Literary Deconstruction	41	(3)
Self-Defense	44	(3)
Thirst	47	(2)
The Petting Zoo	49	(5)
Elocution	54	(4)
Primary Sources	58	(5)
My Mother's Gloves	63	(3)
Strays	66	(3)
Ramon Screams	69	(4)
Belief System	73	(4)
Hemingway's Shotgun	77	(5)
Lunch among Equals	82	(6)
Behind the Curtain	88	(5)
The Pear Tree	93	(2)
Epilogue	95	(4)
Endnotes	99