Narrative Techniques in Twenty-First Century Popular

NARRATIVE TECHNIQUES IN TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY POPULAR HOLOCAUST FICTION By Andrea Gapsch April 2021 ________________________ A Thesis presented to The Honors Tutorial College at Ohio University ________________________ In partial fulfillMent of the requireMents for graduation from the Honors Tutorial College with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in English. ________________________ Gapsch 2 Table of Contents Introduction Chapter One CaMp Sisters: Representations of FeMale Friendship and Networks of Support in Rose Under Fire and The Lilac Girls Chapter Two FaMilies and Dual TiMelines: Exploring Representations of Third Generation Holocaust Survivors in The Storyteller and Sarah’s Key Chapter Three The Nonfiction Novel: Comparing The Tattooist of Auschwitz and The Librarian of Auschwitz Conclusion Gapsch 3 Introduction As I began collecting sources for this project in early 2020, Auschwitz celebrated the 75th anniversary of its liberation. Despite more than 75 years of separation from the Holocaust, AMerican readers are still fascinated with the subject. In her book A Thousand Darknesses: Lies and Truth in Holocaust Fiction, Ruth Franklin mentions the fear of “Holocaust fatigue” that was discussed in 1980s and 1990s AMerican media, by which she meant the worry that AMericans had heard too about the Holocaust and could not take any more (222). This, Franklin feared, would lead to insensitivity from the general public, even in the face of a massive tragedy such as the Holocaust. After all, in his 1994 book Holocaust Representation: Art within the Limits of History and Ethics, Berel Lang estiMates Holocaust writing to include “tens of thousands” texts, spanning fiction, draMa, MeMoir, poetry, history monographs, and more (35). The sheer aMount of Holocaust writing threatens to overwhelM readers, not to mention the enormity of the suffering these texts describe. However, despite the vast aMount of Holocaust fiction that is already in existence, authors continue to write these texts, and readers continue to read theM. The New York Times Best Sellers list— which claiMs to be the “authoritatively ranked lists of books”— was littered with Holocaust fiction through the 2010s. In fact, The Tattooist of Auschwitz, a polarizing historical fiction title, spent more than a year on the paperback Best Sellers list (“Paperback Trade Fiction.”). There is something about World War II, and specifically the Holocaust, that confounds and inspires novelists and readers alike. The History of Holocaust Fiction Gapsch 4 Early Holocaust authors included Elie Wiesel, PriMo Levi, and Tadeusz Borowski, all of whom were survivors of concentration caMps. Their meMoirs and novels contain a blend of their personal lived experience of the Holocaust, with some eMbellishments for narrative or privacy, as Franklin argues in A Thousand Darknesses. Franklin notes that the Holocaust was described as “unknowable,” and that many believed that it could not be represented in literature by those who did not experience it theMselves (5). Elie Wiesel most faMously took this point of view, and as Wiesel was seen as an authoritative figure for the Holocaust in AMerica, his position was generally accepted (Franklin 85). Thus, early Holocaust literature “belonged” to those who experienced some aspect of the Holocaust theMselves, as they were believed to have the sole authority to write on the subject sensitively and accurately. However, by the 1970s, Holocaust literary critics were beginning to accept the fact that non-survivors were writing Holocaust fiction. Lawrence Langer, who has written extensively on Holocaust literature, tackles the issue of Holocaust fiction in his book The Holocaust and the Literary Imagination. Langer argues that the literary critic should no longer question if Holocaust fiction could be written. Rather, Langer calls for Holocaust scholars to exaMine existing Holocaust fiction to “judge [it] for its effectiveness and analyze its iMplications for literature and for society” (Langer 22). Additionally, Langer begins to notice trends and motifs in Holocaust literature, such as disjointed tiMelines, the depiction of disrupted childhoods, and the juxtaposition of life and death (Langer xii). Furthermore, Langer discussed the fact that the Holocaust was a unique event and thus genre-breaking when depicted in literature. This concept was also explored by Ruth Franklin, who discusses the “nonfiction novel” in her book, by which she means a novel Gapsch 5 that has a true story at as its basis, but which uses the genre devices of fiction (18). A popular exaMple of this is Schindler’s Ark by Thomas Keneally, which was developed into the Steven Spielberg movie Schindler’s List. Franklin writes extensively on these “nonfiction novels,” arguing that fiction is not entirely false, as it is often based or inspired by real events, and conversely that meMoir is not entirely true, as meMory is known to be inaccurate (116). Thus, the Holocaust can be seen as ushering in this specific genre-breaking form. Overall, Franklin is a proponent of Holocaust fiction, writing that fiction and iMaginative works can broaden our understanding of historical events (13). She describes an “eMotional attachment” that comes with fictional works that can be hard to innately create with documentary footage or priMary source accounts (159). Her analysis of these foundational Holocaust fictional works helps readers to understand the purpose of Holocaust fiction, as well as fiction in general, and why both are necessary. However, historical fiction that is inaccurate (either with the accumulation of Minor inauthentic details that slowly disrupt the story, or with sweeping historical inaccuracies) can daMage the reader’s understanding of history. Many popular Holocaust works are used in the classroom or are specifically written for younger audiences, with the idea that these works will lay the foundation of the reader’s historical knowledge about the Holocaust. Even something as sMall as continuing to eMphasize the blue- eyed/blonde-haired Germanic ideal during Nazi regiMe can confuse the reader into thinking that’s what the Holocaust was “about.” This narrow view neglects to address the anti-SeMitisM in Germany that preceded the Holocaust, as well as anti-SeMitisM that unfortunately continues today. Gapsch 6 In opposition, stories that are read as the most realistic or “true” appear to take their narrative arc and plot directly from survivor testiMony. Lang argues that Holocaust literature is “bound” to history, meaning that works aspire to be realistic and should be grounded in history first (Lang 20). Lang believes this is a moral duty of the author, perhaps because Holocaust literature always carries an obligation to the meMory of all the victiMs of the Holocaust as well as to the trauma of Holocaust survivors. Thus, Holocaust novels that include plots and relationships such as the above exaMples are grounded in history, though they are still fictionalized and iMaginative. The Categories of Holocaust Fiction There are several ways to characterize Holocaust fiction, and often these categories overlap. First, there is genre: Holocaust fiction is, by nature of writing an event that occurred in the past, historical fiction. Additionally, there is age range: these are the categories of children’s, young adult, and adult fiction. Last, a final category I include is that of “popular” literature. This has more to do with the comMercial success of a novel after its publication, rather than the actual construction of a novel (every author wishes their novel to be “popular,” after all). However, these different categories all put pressure on Holocaust novels, including the critical reception of these texts. The genre of historical fiction has often been characterized as a “women’s genre,” as is discussed by literary critic Diane Wallace in her article “Difficulties, Discontinuities and Differences: Reading Women’s Historical Fiction” (207). In this piece, Wallace considers how the genre of historical fiction is usually seen as a women’s genre and how, as a result, the genre can be quite polarizing: viewed as “Middlebrow” or “escapist” Gapsch 7 (207). Wallace points out that going back to the seventeenth century, the genre of historical fiction has always been a place for women writers and readers (207). She also discusses how historical fiction appears oxymoronic, with its blend of fact and fiction as the fraMework, and how this hybridity has led to harsh criticisM of the genre as a whole (208). Furthermore, Wallace discusses the idea that historical fiction is a “bastard” genre, citing Bonnie G. SMith’s ideas from The Gender of History (1998) that the field of history is positioned as “Masculine” and “scientific,” thus opposed to “feMinine” and “aMateur” qualities. The view was that women should not engage with history for fear of tainting the study (209). However, the fact reMains that many historical fiction readers are women, in addition to the many feMale authors of this genre. Of the six novels I engage with, five are written by women, including Jodie Picoult, Heather Morris, and Tatiana de Rosnay. The only text not authored by a woman is The Librarian of Auschwitz by Antonio Iturbe. However, the protagonist of this story is Dita Kraus, a feMale Holocaust survivor. These texts largely focus on feMale protagonists, and as I discuss in chapter one on the unique relationships between feMale characters. Along the saMe lines that historical fiction is deeMed “Middlebrow,” the genre of young adult

Load more