English
Polish
The Comforting Power of Kitsch. The (Esthetic) Meanders of Holocaust Literature
Aleksandra Ubertowska
redakcja@holocaustresearch.pl Biolecturer at the Department of Contemporary Polish Literature of the Institute of Polish Language and Literature, Gdańsk University. Author of: Świadectwo-trauma-głos. Literackie reprezentacje Holokaustu (Cracow, 2007). Published in (among others): Teksty Drugie, Pamiętnik Literacki
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6465-321X
Department of Contemporary Polish Literature of the Institute of Polish Language and Literature, Gdańsk University
Zagłada Żydów. Studia i Materiały, 2010: Holocaust Studies and Materials, pages: 156-172
Publication date: 2010-11-30
Abstract
The paper is an attempt at outlining the esthetics of kitsch in Holocaust literature. On the basis of Abraham Moles’ and Saul Friedländer’s distinctions, the author analyses works of fiction, Boyne’s The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, and Littel’s The Kindly Ones, indentifying elements of kitsch in them: Perpetrator’s perspective narration, stylistic excess, shocking with cruelty, artistic conformism. In the autobiographical works of Roma Ligocka and Marta Sztokfisz/Edyta Klein, the signs of kitsch mark the overly egocentric narrative perspective, as well as the camouflaging of the auto-fictional character of the alleged memoirs.
Keywords
Holocaust literature, autobiography, kitsch, postmodernism, J. Littel, representation
License
Copyright (c) 2010 Zagłada Żydów. Studia i Materiały
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
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