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Abstract

In her paper, "Nobel in Literature 2002 Imre Kertész's Aesthetics of the Holocaust," Sára Molnár discusses aspects of Nobel Laureate Imre Kertész's reception in Hungary. In her analysis, Molnár discusses aesthetic features of the author's use of language. Molnár's study illuminates the problem of authorship and questions relating to intersections of fiction and autobiography in Kertész's oeuvre. Molnár's argument is that although the author's personal history is indeed important in his texts, this "author" should not be identified with Kertész himself and that although Kertész's themes and subjects appear to be autobiographical, not even his diaries should or can be interpreted as autobiographical documents. As it appears in discussions about Kertész's texts in Hungarian media and scholarship -- the latter very limited to date -- an autobiographical interpretation represents a simplification and neglect of the fictional characters called into life in the author's narratives. Further, Molnár suggests that Kertész, influenced by other texts in holocaust literature such as texts by Tadeusz Borowski, Primo Levi, Jean Améry, or Paul Celan, has found a language and an aesthetic to present holocaust literature authentically where his writing is also relevant to issues and problems of our time.

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