Third-generation fiction on World War II and the Holocaust (with a Schulzian touch): The “Contrapuntal” Cases of Piotr Paziński and Erwin Mortier Cover Image

Druga wojna światowa i Holokaust w prozie trzeciego pokolenia (z akcentem Schulzowskim). „Kontrapunktowe” przypadki Piotra Pazińskiego i Erwina Mortiera
Third-generation fiction on World War II and the Holocaust (with a Schulzian touch): The “Contrapuntal” Cases of Piotr Paziński and Erwin Mortier

Author(s): Kris Van Heuckelom
Contributor(s): Marek Chojnacki (Translator)
Subject(s): Comparative Study of Literature, Polish Literature, WW II and following years (1940 - 1949), History of Antisemitism
Published by: Fundacja Terytoria Książki
Keywords: Bruno Schulz;Holocaust trauma;memory studies;victims and aggresors;

Summary/Abstract: The paper is a comparative analysis of the „schulzoid” and „contrapuntal” novels by Piotr Paziński (The Boarding House) and Erwin Mortier (Marcel). A comparison of the novels is, however, a pretext to approach a much more complex topic which is the representation of trauma by the third post-Holocaust generation, both from the point of view of the victims (Paziński), and that of the oppressors (Mortier). The author has identified characteristic Schulzian motifs which in The Boarding House and Marcel have different functions: the autobiographical setting, the child narrator, the tension between harmony and discord of remembrance, fascination with trash, and interest in the myths of genesis. Schulz – both the style of his fiction and he himself as a Holocaust victim – has turned into a significant figure for a generation, connecting two seemingly diverse discourses of Paziński and Mortier.

  • Issue Year: 12/2018
  • Issue No: 12
  • Page Range: 47-71
  • Page Count: 25
  • Language: Polish