The novel is riddled with gruesome descriptions of sexual violence, which Tallent states are absolutely necessary, “ We need books, like this, about survivors and abuse. My Absolute Darling was criticised for a lot of things, but especially for how it represents survivors of sexual assault. When Turtle finally comes of age and understands that her life has been shaped by continuous abuse, she seeks refuge in Jacob, an aspirational example of masculinity. The story, told in the third person, revolves around a young woman, Turtle, whose childhood has been wrought with sexual abuse by her father. When Gabriel Tallent’s debut novel, My Absolute Darling, came out in September 2017, it had all the hallmarks of the “great American novel” – it was depicted as a high-concept literary fiction and received a lot of praise for its narrative style.
More significantly, the movement will affect how such stories are told and who gets to tell them. It is important, in this context, to discuss how the movement will influence the ways in which narratives of sexual assault and harassment of women and other marginalised groups are depicted in fiction. It has, in the past two years, encouraged public conversations about sexual violence and power. Over the past several decades, violence against women in fiction appears to have been normalised, and the #MeToo movement is set to turn this around. Who has a monopoly on telling stories of sexual violence in fiction? Should survivors be the sole storytellers when it comes to sexual violence? What does it mean for survivors when entire novels are dependent on a sexual assault scene? Should sexual violence be used as a literary device? Should narratives of sexual violence be removed from fiction altogether, especially in the wake of the #MeToo movement? Is there a need for the responsible depiction of sexual violence in fiction? These are significant questions that one must pose to the literary world as a new paradigm shift in the women’s rights movement occurs.
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