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. Transformations of Trauma in Women's Writing. 1st ed. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars, 2023, p. 63-74. n/a. ISBN 978-1-5275-9162-2.
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Basic information
Original name Living with “the Post-Holocaust DNA”: Eleanor Reissa’s (Auto-)Biographical Translation of the European Past into American Present in The Last Survivor
Authors WEISS, Michaela (203 Czech Republic, guarantor, belonging to the institution).
Edition 1. vyd. Cambridge, Transformations of Trauma in Women's Writing, p. 63-74, 12 pp. n/a, 2023.
Publisher Cambridge Scholars
Other information
Original language English
Type of outcome Chapter(s) of a specialized book
Field of Study 60206 Specific literatures
Country of publisher United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Confidentiality degree is not subject to a state or trade secret
Publication form printed version "print"
RIV identification code RIV/47813059:19240/23:A0001148
Organization unit Faculty of Philosophy and Science in Opava
ISBN 978-1-5275-9162-2
Keywords in English Trauma studies; American Jewish Theatre; Holocaust Theatre; trauma transmission
Tags SGS12020, ÚCJ
Tags International impact, Reviewed
Changed by Changed by: doc. PhDr. Michaela Weiss, Ph.D., učo 48912. Changed: 26/1/2024 05:48.
Abstract
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.
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