C 2023

Living with “the Post-Holocaust DNA”: Eleanor Reissa’s (Auto-)Biographical Translation of the European Past into American Present in The Last Survivor

WEISS, Michaela

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

Language

English

Type of outcome

Kapitola resp. kapitoly v odborné knize

Field of Study

60206 Specific literatures

Country of publisher

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Confidentiality degree

není předmětem státního či obchodního tajemství

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

Tags

International impact, Reviewed
Změněno: 26/1/2024 05:48, doc. PhDr. Michaela Weiss, Ph.D.

Abstract

V originále

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.