False Memoir Syndrome Sue Vice

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False Memoir Syndrome Sue Vice In this paper, I will consider what seems to be a recent plethora of false Holocaust testimonies. These are of two different kinds: entirely fictional, and partially embellished. Under the former heading fall Binjamin Wilkomirski’s Fragments (1995), Bernard Holstein’s Stolen Soul (2004) and Misha Defonseca’s Surviving with Wolves (2004); under the latter Deli Strummer’s A Personal Reflection of the Holocaust (1988) and Herman Rosenblat’s Angel at the Fence (which was scheduled for publication in 2009 but withdrawn), as well as Martin Gray’s earlier augmented work, For Those I Loved (1971). I will ask whether these texts should be considered as part of a general cultural study of false memoirs (such as James Frey’s A Million Little Pieces and Margaret Jones’s Love and Consequences) but will argue that false and embellished Holocaust testimony does fall into a separate category. While it may be true that Holocaust fakes are created by a particular climate of publication and marketing, these inauthentic works also cast light on Holocaust literature and testimony in general, in terms of what readers expect of such works and whether Holocaust testimony is a literary genre which can be imitated like any other. I will conclude by arguing that these false memoirs are in fact very useful texts which allow us to consider what happens as the Holocaust passes from an event in living memory to one that is in the past. Sue Vice is Professor of English Literature at the University of Sheffield, UK. Her recent publications include Holocaust Fiction (2000) and Children Writing the Holocaust (2004). She is currently working on a study of Claude Lanzmann’s film Shoah. .

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