THE HOLOCAUST IN FRENCH POSTMODERN FICTION IBD

Sinopse

With postmodernism being associated with playfulness, parody, irony, and even négationnisme, how suitable a medium is the postmodern novel for representing the Holocaust? The readings of Patrick ModianoâÇÖs Dora Bruder, Pierre AssoulineâÇÖs La Cliente, Soazig AaronâÇÖs Le Non de Klara, Jonathan LittellâÇÖs Les Bienveillantes, Philippe ClaudelâÇÖs Le Rapport de Brodeck, and Yannick HaenelâÇÖs Jan Karski reveal that postmodern self-consciousness may help to voice the dilemmas attached to cultural representations of the Catastrophe. While post¡modern anachronism, intertextuality, and intru¡sive narrators foreground the challenges of retelling the Shoah in the post-witness era, the postmodern novelâÇÖs frag¡mentariness, confused chronology, and silences enable the articulation of trauma. In exploring the ethical risks and benefits of Holocaust fiction, this book questions the political implications for the French memory of the Occupation of six novels written in the wake of ChiracâÇÖs acknowledgement of FranceâÇÖs embroilment in the NazisâÇÖ genocidal project.Helena Duffy is Professor of French at the University WrocÅéaw in Poland.á