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Writing Novels After Auschwitz: Traces of the Holocaust in Three Recent Novels“

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Writing Novels After Auschwitz: Traces of the Holocaust in Three Recent Novels“ View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by OTHES DIPLOMARBEIT Titel der Diplomarbeit „Writing Novels after Auschwitz: Traces of the Holocaust in Three Recent Novels“ Verfasserin Stefanie Anna Sandberger angestrebter akademischer Grad Magistra der Philosophie (Mag.phil.) Wien, 2009 Studienkennzahl lt. Studienblatt: A 343 312 Studienrichtung lt. Studienblatt: Anglistik und Amerikanistik Betreuerin: Ao. Univ.-Prof. Dr. Monika Seidl Declaration of Authenticity I confirm to have conceived and written this paper in English all by myself. Quotations from sources are all clearly marked and acknowledged in the bibliographical references either in the footnotes or within the text. Any ideas borrowed and/or passages paraphrased from the works of other authors are truthfully acknowledged and identified in the footnotes. Signature _________________________ Hinweis Diese Diplomarbeit hat nachgewiesen, dass die betreffende Kandidatin oder der betreffende Kandidat befähigt ist, wissenschaftliche Themen selbstständig sowie inhaltlich und methodisch vertretbar zu bearbeiten. Da die Korrekturen der/des Beurteilenden nicht eingetragen sind und das Gutachten nicht beiliegt, ist daher nicht erkenntlich, mit welcher Note diese Arbeit abgeschlossen wurde. Das Spektrum reicht von sehr gut bis genügend. Es wird gebeten, diesen Hinweis bei der Lektüre zu beachten. Diese Arbeit ist meinen Eltern und meiner Schwester gewidmet, die mich über lange lange Jahre mit Liebe und viel viel Geduld unterstützt haben. Dafür danke ich euch. Danke auch an Manuel, der mich des Öfteren davon abgehalten hat, aus dem Fenster zu springen. Table of Contents Introduction .................................................................................................................9 Theorising the Holocaust, Writing about the Holocaust.............................................15 What is the Holocaust?..........................................................................................15 Adorno...................................................................................................................16 Critical Voices........................................................................................................20 Literature and the Holocaust..................................................................................25 Point of View .............................................................................................................33 De-Humanization – Trauma ......................................................................................41 Traumatisation.......................................................................................................43 Fugitive Pieces...................................................................................................44 Everything is Illuminated ....................................................................................48 Lista’s story ....................................................................................................48 Eli’s story........................................................................................................51 The Magical Realist Version...........................................................................54 The History of Love............................................................................................57 Absent Presences – Not-There .............................................................................62 Absent Presences – Bella, Augustine, Alma..........................................................66 Spirituality, Religion and Science ..........................................................................69 Place and Time......................................................................................................75 Re-Humanization ......................................................................................................83 The Senses ...........................................................................................................84 Sight and Sound ................................................................................................84 Silence ...............................................................................................................89 Touch.................................................................................................................93 Smell..................................................................................................................96 Roots – Family and Naming ..................................................................................98 The senses in action, or Gendered bodies .......................................................... 104 Fugitive Pieces................................................................................................. 105 Everything is Illuminated .................................................................................. 109 The History of Love.......................................................................................... 112 Writing ................................................................................................................. 113 Figures of Speech, Elements of Style.............................................................. 118 Language......................................................................................................... 125 Magic Realism ................................................................................................. 133 Configurations of Memory................................................................................... 139 Fugitive Pieces................................................................................................. 139 Everything is Illuminated .................................................................................. 143 The History of Love.......................................................................................... 145 Resolution ............................................................................................................... 147 Fugitive Pieces .................................................................................................... 147 Everything is Illuminated...................................................................................... 150 The History of Love ............................................................................................. 152 Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 156 Bibliography ............................................................................................................ 160 Primary Sources.................................................................................................. 160 Secondary Sources ............................................................................................. 160 Index ....................................................................................................................... 167 Abstract................................................................................................................... 171 Curriculum Vitae...................................................................................................... 173 Introduction Die gesellschaftliche Auseinandersetzung um eine Darstellung von Auschwitz ist zu einem offenen Machtdiskurs geworden, bei dem sich jede Darstellung von Auschwitz – ob als Erinnerung, Polemik oder Analyse veräußert – in einem Kontext unterschiedlicher Zuschreibungen bewegt und jede Rede über Auschwitz zugleich Darstellung von Auschwitz geworden ist. (Krankenhagen, 2) The Holocaust represents a rupture in historiography, philosophy and art. Auschwitz as the epitome of total destruction, as complete breakdown of civilisation resulted in devastation, depression and the question of one’s place in life. Writing literature after Auschwitz without acknowledging and incorporating this fundamental loss, this experience of incredible violence and the trepidation it caused is what Adorno called barbaric. In the aftermath of the catastrophe many writers have in one way or another dealt with the Holocaust or referred to it. This thesis attempts to analyse three novels from 1996 to 2005 in which the Holocaust plays a central role. The principal points of this paper will be the novels’ treatment of the fictional interpretation of the Shoah, the depiction of the protagonists’ trauma and their re-humanization as a reaction to the Nazis’ vilification of their victims as “figuren”, as Anne Michaels calls this deprived status (Fugitive Pieces, 165), the de-humanization of human beings. Memory is certainly another focal point of these novels. The shared process of fixing memory regarding certain events and the role of memory for questions of identity and finding a way to live on after the Shoah also feature prominently in the novels and therefore also in my thesis. The earliest of the three novels dealt with in this thesis is Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels. It is the only novel by Anne Michaels so far. Born in 1958 to a Russian immigrant to the U.S., Michaels is no contemporary witness to World War II and the genocide of the Jews. In her poetry and prose writing Michaels however tries to understand how the individual copes with these events. Her approach in Fugitive Pieces is retrospective and personal, tracing the impact of the Shoah through the
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