Abstract
In her article "Holocaust Child Survivors' Memoirs as Reflected in Appelfeld's The Story of a Life" Dana Mihăilescu identifies characteristics of child survivors' memoirs in Aharon Appelfeld's writing. Mihăilescu addresses the following main question: is the structure of child survivors' memoirs similar to that of Holocaust memoirs written by adult survivors or is there a tendency to focus on certain aspects given the young age some had at the time? Mihăilescu argues that unlike regular autobiographies by Holocaust adult survivors, child survivors' memoirs are less constructed around factual events of private and public relevance and that they concentrate instead on deeply-entrenched sensations and the imminence of the death of parents and loss children experienced during World War II. Further, Mihăilescu argues that it is important to recognize that in the case of a child survivor turned author like Appelfeld, the act of deferred mourning is inscribed in the technique of memoir construction via the continuous interruption of straightforward chronological organization.
Recommended Citation
Mihăilescu, Dana.
"Holocaust Child Survivors' Memoirs as Reflected in Appelfeld's The Story of a Life."
CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture
17.3
(2015):
<https://doi.org/10.7771/1481-4374.2711>
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