Abstract
In her article "Vicarious Victimhood as Post-Holocaust Jewish Identity in Erica Fischer's Auto/Biography Aimée and Jaguar" Anne Rothe reads the Austrian-Jewish journalist's interview-based dual biography in autobiographical terms. Taking recourse to such para-texts as the preface and epilogue, in which Fischer reflects on her own subject position, in addition to the auto/biographical narrative itself, Rothe critiques the notion of constructing secular Jewish identity based on the notion of vicarious or hereditary Holocaust victimhood. This provocative new reading reveals that the biography Fischer wrote constitutes a counter-narrative to the story her main collaborator, Lilly Wust, told the author about her short-lived love affair with Felice Schragenheim, who was killed in the Holocaust and whom Wust mourned for the rest of her life. Rothe furthermore argues that Fischer rewrites Wust's story to the extent of denying her core identity of vicarious Holocaust victimhood, only to claim this epistemologically and ethically untenable but culturally dominant and coveted subject position for herself.
Recommended Citation
Rothe, Anne.
"Vicarious Victimhood as Post-Holocaust Jewish Identity in Erica Fischer's Auto/Biography Aimée and Jaguar."
CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture
20.1
(2018):
<https://doi.org/10.7771/1481-4374.3079>
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