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Representing Holocaust Trauma: the Pawnbroker and Everything Is Illuminated

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Representing Holocaust Trauma: the Pawnbroker and Everything Is Illuminated Ghent University Faculty of Arts and Philosophy Representing Holocaust Trauma: The Pawnbroker and Everything Is Illuminated Supervisor: Paper submitted in partial fulfilment of the Dr. Philippe Codde requirements for the degree of “Master in de Taal- en Letterkunde: Engels” by Raïssa Verstrynge 2009 - 2010 i Acknowledgments First of all, I would like to thank my promotor Dr. Philippe Codde for providing me with constructive comments on my text and also for giving me the opportunity to study this topic. Furthermore, I wish to thank my friends Sara and Liese for standing by me through all the challenges university education poses. I am also very grateful to my parents for all the support they gave me and for giving me the chance to obtain a university degree. And last, but definitely not least, special thanks are due to my boyfriend Laurens for keeping me fed and coffeed up during the writing of this thesis; this would not have been possible without him. ii Table of contents 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 1 2. Trauma, the Holocaust and the Jewish American Novel ........................................................ 3 2.1. Trauma ............................................................................................................................. 3 2.1.1. Defining Trauma ....................................................................................................... 3 2.1.2. Trauma Theory ......................................................................................................... 4 2.2. Trauma in Relation to the Holocaust ............................................................................... 8 2.2.1. The Event Itself ........................................................................................................ 8 2.2.2. The First Generation ................................................................................................. 9 2.2.2.1. Survivors ............................................................................................................ 9 2.2.2.2. Overcoming Trauma: Acting-out and Working-through ................................. 10 2.2.2.3. Problems of Testimony .................................................................................... 13 2.2.2.4. Role of the Listener .......................................................................................... 15 2.2.3. The Second Generation .......................................................................................... 17 2.2.4. The Third Generation ............................................................................................. 21 2.3. The Jewish American Novel .......................................................................................... 24 2.3.1. Definition and History ............................................................................................ 24 2.3.2. Generational Differences in Jewish-American Novels .......................................... 25 3. Analyses ................................................................................................................................ 27 3.1. The Pawnbroker ............................................................................................................. 27 3.1.1. The Pawnbroker : a Trauma-theoretical Approach to Edward Lewis Wallant’s Novel ................................................................................................................................ 27 3.1.1.1. Inexperience of Trauma and Incapability of Feeling ...................................... 27 3.1.1.2. Basic Trust and the Value of Money ................................................................ 31 iii 3.1.1.3. Acting-out, Working-through and Latency ...................................................... 33 3.1.1.4. The role of the Listener: Marilyn Birchfield ................................................... 37 3.1.1.5. Light vs. Darkness ........................................................................................... 38 3.1.2. The Pawnbroker : a Trauma-theoretical Approach to Sidney Lumet’s Film .......... 41 3.1.2.1. Adaptation to Film ........................................................................................... 41 3.1.2.2. Value of Money ................................................................................................ 44 3.1.2.3. Acting-out and Working-through ..................................................................... 44 3.1.2.4. Blindness vs. Seeing ......................................................................................... 45 3.1.2.5. Christian Symbolism ........................................................................................ 48 3.1.3. Comparing the Representation of Trauma in Wallant’s Novel with Lumet’s Film49 3.2. Everything Is Illuminated .............................................................................................. 50 3.2.1. Everything Is Illuminated : a Trauma-theoretical Approach to Jonathan Safran Foer’s Novel ..................................................................................................................... 50 3.2.1.1. The Third Generation and Postmemory .......................................................... 51 3.2.1.2. The First Generation and Problems of Testimony .......................................... 53 3.2.1.3. Jonathan’s Quest and the Revelation of Two Traumatic Testimonies ............ 56 3.2.1.4. Failure of Language and ame Confusion ..................................................... 63 3.2.1.5. Myth and Magical Realism .............................................................................. 64 3.2.1.6. Ending and Title .............................................................................................. 66 3.2.2. Everything Is Illuminated : a Trauma-theoretical Approach to Liev Schreiber’s Film ................................................................................................................................... 67 3.2.2.1. The Story of Alex’s Grandfather ...................................................................... 68 3.2.2.2. The Story of Augustine ..................................................................................... 70 3.2.2.3. The Story of Alex and Jonathan ....................................................................... 71 3.2.2.4. Title .................................................................................................................. 71 iv 3.2.3. Comparing the Representation of Trauma in Foer’s Novel with Schreiber’s Film 71 4. Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 74 5. Bibliography ......................................................................................................................... 77 1 1. Introduction This thesis will focus on how the experience of trauma and its effects are represented through the media of literature and film. After discussing the general nature of the concept of trauma – as well as the developments in the study of this concept – this thesis will deal more specifically with the trauma experienced by Holocaust survivors, their children and their grandchildren. Although it has been over sixty years since the Holocaust occurred, its impact is undeniable as it continues to haunt our present-day generation. This is of course especially true for the Jewish people, which explains why so many Jewish American novels deal with the subject of the Holocaust. Alan Berger refers to Elie Wiesel to clarify this inextricable connection between Jewish American literature and the Holocaust: “[n]o Jew can be fully Jewish today, can be fully a man today, without being part of the Holocaust. All Jews are survivors. They have all been inside the whirlwind of the Holocaust, even those born afterwards, even those who heard its echoes in distant lands” (Sicher Breaking Crystal 253). In this way, Wiesel refers to the fact that not only the generation that lived during the Holocaust is influenced by these events, but also that the second and even the third generation born after their occurrence still experiences the consequences. The second part of this thesis will discuss The Pawnbroker , a novel by Edward Lewis Wallant. He is an example of a Jewish novelist who heard such an echo of the Holocaust “in distant lands,” namely in the United States of America. Even though Wallant was not a survivor of the Shoah, he can thus be considered part of the first generation. This novel was published in 1961 and deals with the subject matter of the Holocaust. More precisely, as Alan Rosen suggests, it is “[t]he story of a Holocaust survivor unable to mourn” (77). Therefore, The Pawnbroker will be analyzed in this thesis as a representation of first generation 2 literature. The film adaptation of this novel – directed by Sidney Lumet – appeared in 1965, and will also be considered further on. Finally, the last part of this thesis will be devoted to the analysis and discussion of Jonathan Safran Foer’s debut novel Everything Is Illuminated , which was published in 2002. Because his grandparents survived the Holocaust, Foer is undoubtedly part of the third generation. The choice of this novel as a representation of third generation trauma literature is justified by Philippe Codde’s assertion that it is “[p]erhaps the most prototypical example of a third generation
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