Language:
German
Year of publication:
1993
Titel der Quelle:
Zeitschrift für Deutsche Philologie
Angaben zur Quelle:
112,4 (1993) 595-617
Keywords:
Johnson, Uwe,
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945), in literature
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) Influence
Abstract:
Discusses the treatment of Jewish and German reactions to the Holocaust in Johnson's novel (in four volumes, 1970-83). The narrator, Gesine Cresspahl, cannot overcome, in her every contact with Jews, the memory of the Holocaust and her feeling of guilt as a German (even though she was then a child). She sees the Holocaust as metaphysical evil, a breakdown of civilization. On the other hand, her friend Mrs. Ferwalter relates her experiences in Auschwitz (though they have marked her physically and psychologically) in normal, everyday terms; this is what enables her to go on living and preserve her faith. Thus Johnson, like Gershom Scholem and Dan Diner, sees the incommensurability between the perspectives of Germans and Jews and the impossibility - at least at present - of communication between them.
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