The Aesthetics of the Shoah in Elfriede Jelinek’s Die Kinder der Toten and Neid. Privatroman

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5209/rfal.78401
Keywords: Elfriede Jelinek, Die Kinder der Toten, Neid. Privatroman, Literary Representation of the Shoah, Cultural Trauma, Collective Identity, Austria, Second World War, Victims in Literature, Perpetrators in Literature

Abstract

Jelinek’s novels Die Kinder der Toten und Neid. Privatroman recall the dark chapter in the Austrian history, namely the “Anschluss” in March 1938 and the involvement of Austrians in the mass crimes of National Socialism. The objective of this paper is to analyze the narrative techniques employed by Jelinek towards a critical representation of an aesthetics of the Shoah: the tendency towards abstract and imprecise statistics, the insertions into the novel plots which speak for the times of Austrofascism and National Socialism. By means of the symbolization of the victims and the perpetrators, the void in memory left by the Shoah is filled in and the absence of the victims is represented.

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Published
2021-10-14
How to Cite
Ursachi I. (2021). The Aesthetics of the Shoah in Elfriede Jelinek’s Die Kinder der Toten and Neid. Privatroman. Revista de Filología Alemana, 29, 45-62. https://doi.org/10.5209/rfal.78401
Issue
Vol. 29 (2021)
Section
Articles. Literary Studies

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