Third-Generation Holocaust Narratives: Memory in Memoir and Fiction

by Victoria Aarons (Contributor), Alan Astro (Contributor), Alan Berger (Contributor)

This collection of new essays examines third-generation Holocaust narratives and the inter-generational transmission of trauma and memory. This collection demonstrates the ways in which memory of the Holocaust has been passed along inter-generationally from survivors to the second-generation—the children of survivors—to a contemporary generation of grandchildren of survivors—those writers who have come of literary age at a time that will mark the end of direct survivor testimony. This collection, in drawing upon a variety of approaches and perspectives, suggests the rich and fluid range of expression through which stories of the Holocaust are transmitted to and by the third generation, who have taken on the task of bearing witness to the enormity of the Holocaust and the ways in which this pronounced event has shaped the lives of the descendants of those who experienced the trauma first-hand. The essays collected—essays written by renowned scholars in Holocaust literature, philosophy, history, and religion as well as by third-generation writers—show that Holocaust literary representation has continued to flourish well into the twenty-first century, gaining increased momentum as a third generation of writers has added to the growing corpus of Holocaust literature. Here we find a literature that laments unrecoverable loss for a generation removed spatially and temporally from the extended trauma of the Holocaust. The third-generation writers, in writing against a contemporary landscape of post-apocalyptic apprehension and anxiety, capture and penetrate the growing sense of loss and the fear of the failure of memory. Their novels, short stories, and memoirs carry the Holocaust into the twenty-first century and suggest the future of Holocaust writing for extended generations.

235 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 30, 2016

Reviews

[Chloe · Rating 5 out of 5]

The collection of essays edited by Victoria Aarons with third-generation author contributors is underrated. This book was published in 2016, and is not receiving the attention it deserves. The multiple perspectives of the third-generation contributors offers readers an understanding of the complexity of the third-generation identity. Additionally, many of the contributors discuss Holocaust fiction; this is valuable, especially as we move into the fourth-generation. While the book is not written for a general audience, it is an essential tool for those teaching, reading, and studying the Holocaust and Holocaust literature.