Living with “the Post-Holocaust DNA”: Eleanor Reissa’s (Auto-)Biographical Translation of the ...

@inbook{65642,
   author = {Weiss, Michaela},
   address = {Cambridge},
   booktitle = {Transformations of Trauma in Women's Writing},
   edition = {1},
   editor = {Laura Alexander},
   keywords = {Trauma studies; American Jewish Theatre; Holocaust Theatre; trauma transmission},
   howpublished = {tištěná verze "print"},
   language = {eng},
   location = {Cambridge},
   isbn = {978-1-5275-9162-2},
   pages = {63-74},
   publisher = {Cambridge Scholars},
   title = {Living with “the Post-Holocaust DNA”: Eleanor Reissa’s (Auto-)Biographical Translation of the European Past into American Present in The Last Survivor},
   year = {2023}
}

TY  - CHAP
ID  - 65642
AU  - Weiss, Michaela
PY  - 2023
TI  - Living with “the Post-Holocaust DNA”: Eleanor Reissa’s (Auto-)Biographical Translation of the European Past into American Present in The Last Survivor
VL  - n/a
PB  - Cambridge Scholars
CY  - Cambridge
SN  - 9781527591622
KW  - Trauma studies
KW  - American Jewish Theatre
KW  - Holocaust Theatre
KW  - trauma transmission
N2  - The paper discusses the forms and impact of the post-Holocaust trauma in the theatrical production of a current playwright, Yiddishist, singer, and director Eleanor Reissa. Her collection The Last Survivor and Other Modern Jewish Plays (2015) offers to a large extent (auto)biographical representation of various types of traumatic experience of the Holocaust survivors and as well as the impact of the intergenerational trauma transmission on their descendants. The paper focuses on the complex representation of multiple layers of trauma on a personal, communal, and national level, addressing the negotiations of ethnic, national, and gender identities. It further explores the medium of drama, more specifically the use of dramatic methods that enhance the sense of immediacy and heighten the impact of the utterances. Reissa’s non-didactic and deeply personal approach in connection with the use of dramatic monologues demonstrate the topicality of the Holocaust-related trauma, and more importantly, highlights the role of trauma in the identity-making process, which is both personal and universal. Besides featuring of the traumatic experience, the paper discusses the attempts at healing and the coping mechanisms, including breaking the silence and sharing of stories, that prevent the trauma from becoming the major determinant of one’s identity and empower the protagonists to live in the present.
ER  - 

WEISS, Michaela. Living with “the Post-Holocaust DNA”: Eleanor Reissa’s (Auto-)Biographical Translation of the European Past into American Present in The Last Survivor. In Laura Alexander. \textit{Transformations of Trauma in Women's Writing}. 1. vyd. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars, 2023, s.~63-74. n/a. ISBN~978-1-5275-9162-2.