For those who cannot speak: towards new and ethical expressions of Holocaust remembrance by the third generation
- Publication Type:
- Thesis
- Issue Date:
- 2022
Open Access
Copyright Clearance Process
- Recently Added
- In Progress
- Open Access
This item is open access.
In the present moment, the Holocaust period balances on the edge of living memory. As the last Holocaust witnesses pass away, there is a sense of urgency and gravity for the third generation—that is, the grandchildren of witnesses or people who are otherwise at a three- generation remove—who seek to preserve and share these stories, and who are the new custodians of this representative responsibility.
This creative practice thesis is two-fold in its exploration of the third-generation representative voice. The exegetical component, Beyond remembrance, towards responsibility: writing life through documentary fiction, uses theoretical discussion, case studies, narrative inquiry, textual analysis, reflection and auto-ethnographic study to underpin the creative work. The creative artefact is a documentary fiction text, titled Dear Mutzi, which documents the lives of my great-grandparents and grandfather during the years 1938–1939, alongside the narrative thread of my relationship with my grandfather over the past two years.
This thesis answers the central research question: How can the third-generation writer ethically reconstruct a grandparent’s Holocaust story through literature? I argue that a hybrid approach is necessary for the third-generation representational voice. As the Holocaust inevitably grows distanced from the present moment, research-informed imagination presents as the appropriate tool for the third-generation writer and subsequent generations to engage with familial history that is characteristically incohesive.
Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: