To cope with trauma, protagonist “throws off her very identity,” says Joyce Carol Oates in New York Times Book Review of Edna O’Brien’s Little Red Chairs.

“Initially one of [the evil] Dr. Vlad’s dupes, Fidelma evolves into O’Brien’s most resourceful heroine as she throws off her very identity to live amid the homeless in London and to remake herself by painful degrees (chambermaid, dog kennel worker) into a woman strong enough to help others. In her new awareness she hears stories told by refugees in a homeless shelter…victims of unspeakable horrors…a place that promises ‘We Help Victims Become Heroines.’ ”

One way for people to cope with traumatic experiences is to change their “very identity” by switching personalities (multiple personality). Did Oates or O’Brien, directly or indirectly, have anything like that in mind? I don’t know. But since Oates has been discussed in this blog, I had to ask.