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Holocaust Narratives: Second-Generation “Perpetrators” and the Problem of Liminality

Pettitt, Joanne (2018) Holocaust Narratives: Second-Generation “Perpetrators” and the Problem of Liminality. The European Legacy: Toward New Paradigms, 23 (3). pp. 286-300. ISSN 1084-8770. (doi:10.1080/10848770.2017.1419668) (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:68796)

The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided. (Contact us about this Publication)
Official URL:
https://doi.org/10.1080/10848770.2017.1419668

Abstract

Taking “second-generation perpetrators” to refer to the tension between the guilt of the parents who were actively involved in carrying out Nazi atrocities, and the innocence of their offspring, I posit the oscillation between these positions as a form of liminality. Underpinned by the work of Jacques Derrida and Marianne Hirsch, I discuss this form of liminality in relation to concepts of the ghostly, examining the ways in which Holocaust narratives, literary and cinematic, are haunted by the past. I argue that the family conflicts such second-generation narratives present run the risk of displacing the real victims of the Holocaust.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1080/10848770.2017.1419668
Uncontrolled keywords: Holocaust narratives, Second Generation, Väterliteratur, Memory, Hauntology
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Arts and Humanities > School of Culture and Languages
Depositing User: Joanne Pettitt
Date Deposited: 24 Aug 2018 12:16 UTC
Last Modified: 04 Mar 2024 19:10 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/68796 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

Pettitt, Joanne.

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