Language:
English
Year of publication:
2000
Titel der Quelle:
Journal of European Studies
Angaben zur Quelle:
30,4 (2000) 353-368
Keywords:
Michaels, Anne,
;
Rose, Gillian
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945), in literature
;
Holocaust (Jewish theology)
Abstract:
Examines the critique of postmodernism's irrationalism and claim of the ineffability of the Holocaust by Gillian Rose (d. 1995), who argued that a proper process of "initiated" mourning was necessary to work out the trauma of the Holocaust. Rose stressed that mourning should not be interminable and that relinquishing the dead would allow a return to life and a concern with justice, including that done to the Jews in the Holocaust. Applies Rose's ideas to literature, specifically to "Fugitive Pieces" (1997) by Anne Michaels. Two characters in this novel embody opposing approaches to mourning for the members of their family and community killed in the Holocaust. The one who mourns successfully returns to life. Catharsis is restored, love and justice again become possible, "everlasting melancholia" is rejected, and reason again has a role, as Gillian Rose proclaimed.
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