Holocaust Graphic Narratives: Generation, Trauma, and Memory [Hardcover]

InHolocaust Graphic Narratives, Victoria Aarons demonstrates the range and fluidity of this richly figured genre. Employing memory as her controlling trope, Aarons analyzes the work of the graphic novelists and illustrators, making clear how they extend the traumatic narrative of the Holocaust into the present and, in doing so, give voice to survival in the wake of unrecoverable loss. In recreating moments of traumatic rupture, dislocation, and disequilibrium, these graphic narratives contribute to the evolving field of Holocaust representation and establish a new canon of visual memory. The intergenerational dialogue established by Aarons’ reading of these narratives speaks to the on-going obligation to bear witness to the Holocaust. Examined together, these intergenerational works bridge the erosions created by time and distance. As a genre of witnessing, these graphic stories, in retracing the traumatic tracks of memory, inscribe the weight of history on generations that follow.
 

Holocaust Graphic Narratives examines Holocaust graphic novels and memoirs, analyzing the genre as one that enables intergenerational transmission of trauma and memory. Here, the graphic novel becomes a medium uniquely positioned to create a sense of felt immediacy, urgency, and authenticity at the intersection of history and the imagination.

Victoria Aarons holds the position of O.R. and Eva Mitchell Distinguished Professor of Literature at Trinity University, where she teaches courses on American Jewish and Holocaust literatures.Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Holocaust Graphic Narratives: Visual Testimonies of Memory
1          The Performance of Memory: Miriam Katin’sWe Are On Our Own,
            A Child Survivor’s (Auto)Biographical Memoir
2          Memory Frames: