Published professor at USF

 Published professor at USF

By: Scarlett LaBuda

Image from USF Newsroom

Professor Anna Iones of the USF English department, who teaches American Literature, writing, and cultural theory, has announced the release of her newest book, “Painful Forms: Aesthetic Violence in American Literature and Art, 1945-2001,” set to be available Oct. 21. This book is being published by the University of North Carolina Press. 

Iones’s book is a work of literary criticism that explores five forms of displaying violence in a post-war era. Painful Forms explores a depth of analysis not previously seen of US figures portrayed through US art and literature. 

In “Painful Forms” Professor Iones explores a concept coined aesthetic violence. Aesthetic violence is described as the experience of trying to make sense of artworks that are in fact designed to thwart or frustrate our sense-making strategies. While aesthetic violence was originally a term utilized only in the visual arts, Iones makes the connection in “Painful Forms” that this term also applies to performance art and fictional literature. 

Each chapter of the book defines aesthetic violence in how it is present in different art forms. It is utilized to portray what suffering in the US looked like during violent affairs, such as World War II and the attacks of Sept. 11. The book takes a look at aesthetic violence through a historical perspective, arguing that the way people thought about, and spoke on violence, was shaped by the utilization of aesthetic violence. 

In addition to being a published author and English Professor, Anna Iones is also the advisor who oversees the Archway Review at USF. This is an online magazine that covers creative writing and art produced by students on campus. The Archway Review was recently restarted in the fall of 2024 and releases roughly one online edition per semester. Students have the opportunity to submit work to be reviewed and published by this magazine.