Introduction 1
Chapter One Repression to Reconciliation:Coming to Terms with the Traumatic Past 21
1．Embodying the Traumatic Memories of Victimization in Getting Out 23
2．Recalling the Traumatic Memory of Maternal Loss in Traveler in the Dark 49
Chapter Two Nostalgia to Disillusionment:Mourning the Wistful Past 66
1．Lamenting Loss of Marriage and Friendship in Third and Oak 67
2．Mourning the Western Outlaw Era in The Holdup 92
3．Deromanticizing the Frontier Hero in Loving Daniel Boone 106
Chapter Three Avoidance to Confrontation:Making Sense of the Fictional Past 120
1．Unearthing a Past with No Self-control in'night,Mother 121
2．Piercing the Net of the Imaginary Past in Trudy Blue 136
Conclusion 158
Works Cited 163
Postscript 178