The Search for Memories: Concepts of Memory in Eine Art Liebe by Katharina Hacker Cover Image

Die Suche nach Erinnerungen: Gedächtniskonzepte in Eine Art Liebe von Katharina Hacker
The Search for Memories: Concepts of Memory in Eine Art Liebe by Katharina Hacker

Author(s): Jolanta Pacyniak
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Studies of Literature, German Literature
Published by: Towarzystwo Naukowe KUL & Katolicki Uniwersytet Lubelski Jana Pawła II
Keywords: postmemory; contemporary German literature; memoirs; Katharina Hacker; photography in literature; objects in literature

Summary/Abstract: This article analyses Katharina Hacker’s novel Eine Art Liebe [A Kind of Love] from the perspective of postmemory, as postulated by Marianne Hirsch. Although the interpreted work does not deal with traditional family relationships, in which the descendants have to deal with the traumas of their parents, certain narrative techniques refer to the attempts of future generations to face up to the trauma of the Holocaust. The protagonist of the novel is a young German woman who meets Moshe Fein in Israel and attempts to write down his story. Upon listening to the story of her Jewish friend, who survived the Holocaust in a French boarding school, she tries to lend credence to her narrative by quoting Moshe Fein’s notes and describing his family memorabilia and photographs.

  • Issue Year: 68/2020
  • Issue No: 5
  • Page Range: 33-45
  • Page Count: 13
  • Language: German