Learning How to Write: Difficulties With Representing the Holocaust in Jonathan Safran Foer's "Everything is Illuminated".

Abstract

There are two main factors that complicate the representation of the Holocaust: the limited knowledge and experience of the second and third generation and the stylistic conventions of postmodernism. Critics, authors, or readers, understand nothing, objectively or subjectively, about the Holocaust. It is a traumatic event difficult to understand even for those who have experienced it. Although there are victim and perpetrator testimonies and firsthand witness accounts, these have to be filtered against prejudices, intentions, trauma, and the inaccuracy of memory. Furthermore, the complexities of the transmission of memory hinder second and third generation representation. Second and third generation survivors have, in a way, ‘inherited’ the Holocaust experience. However, during the transmission of knowledge, some of it always gets lost. The descendants can listen to accounts and memories, but never see and feel what their ancestors lived through and this will make understanding the Holocaust more difficult. It creates a so-called ‘gap’ in the transmission and representation of experiences. In addition, ten years from now, most if not all witnesses to the Holocaust will have died. This is where writers enter the picture. In postmodern literature the author of the novel is more prominently present and practices power over representation. Postmodern authors such as Mark Z. Danielewski, Doug Dorst and Jonatan Safran Foer, play with their medium, with writing techniques, perspectives and language. In their novels the focus is divided between the writer and the story. In most postmodern fiction, the author and the form in which a story is conveyed are very much at the forefront of the novel. The author is no longer ‘dead’ and his consciousness becomes part of the text. He will make sure the reader is aware of his presence or influence because the story that is being told will be filtered through his perception and perspective. Moreover, postmodernists are convinced that the truth can no longer be told, objectivity no longer exists, therefore no one true story can be told. This is the reason they make themselves more present in their novels. They do not claim to be accurate or objective and therefore do not hold themselves to one form of storytelling within a novel. Postmodernism complicates the objective retelling of a historical and traumatic event in the way we have been used to. These two factors will influence future representations of the Holocaust. Therefore, a shift in Holocaust representation needs to take place. This realization came in the 1980’s and has gained much support since. The two factors mentioned above ask for a new way of looking at and representing the Holocaust. Postmodernism has changed storytelling. Although the involvement of the author complicates representation, postmodern writing techniques do actually allow for a more obvious, ‘in-your-face’ display of the issues with representation. Precisely because the genre raises awareness it is considered a fitting genre in which to represent the Holocaust. In a way, postmodernism makes it easier to address the discussion in fiction.