Resisting Attack  By Sandra Howe Staff Writer  The effects of
violence in television, movies and music have been heavily
debated for years, but Assoc. Prof. Laura Tanner (English)
argues that violence in literature can also have damaging
effects on society.  "Reading literature frames attitudes about
what's happening in real life," she said, "and reading about
acts of violence can perpetuate the violence being represented."
Tanner says readers should realize the attitudes and assumptions
they bring to a book and recognize how books try to manipulate
them. She explores these issues in her recent book, Intimate
Violence.  "One of the biggest threats I saw in the world had to
do with the threat of violence," she said of her motivation for
writing the book, "and the notion that I found least explicable
was the idea of rape and torture, acts of violence which project
a certain kind of intimacy. We must be alert to the connection
or it could impact us negatively."  Intimate Violence stresses
the need for readers t