Perpetrators in Holocaust Narratives

Pettitt, Joanne

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-52575-4

Cited by 19 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…Most commonly, this is achieved through motifs of homogeneity and commonality. As I have argued elsewhere (Pettitt, 2017), this technique works towards a process of humanization, allowing connections to be drawn with the reader that have the potential to facilitate empathic responses. Connections between Holocaust perpetrators and the reader can be constructed in a variety of ways.…”

Section: Perpetrator Fiction: a Tentative Definitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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What is Holocaust perpetrator fiction?

Pettitt

2020

Journal of European Studies

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In this article, I argue that fiction that centralizes the perpetrator perspective should be understood as a central part of the canon of Holocaust fiction. However, as I aim to show, greater distinction needs to be made between different kinds of perpetrator writing. Comparing fiction about generic Nazis with stories that centralize the figure of Adolf Hitler, I attempt to outline some of the key similarities and differences. Ultimately, perpetrator fiction works by drawing connections with the reader: the implication is that readers also have the capacity for wrongdoing and could, under the necessary conditions, act in atrocious ways. This has implications for reader responses, especially those concerning empathy and judgement. On the other hand, Hitler fiction relies on the ‘otherness’ of the Nazi leader, whose character resists easy normalization. This raises important questions about Hitler’s place in the Western cultural imagination.

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Section: Perpetrator Fiction: a Tentative Definitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In recent years, though, this bias has started to change, and several important publications have acknowledged the significance of perpetrator narratives (see Vice and Adams, 2013; McGlothlin, 2014; Pettitt, 2017). Much of this critical literature has centred around the problem of identification.…”

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confidence: 99%

What is Holocaust perpetrator fiction?

Pettitt

2020

Journal of European Studies

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“…Joanne Pettitt (2017) diskuterer mer spesifikt sjangeren holocaust perpetrator fiction, som undersøker de sosiale, politiske og psykologiske motivasjonene hos holocaustforbrytere. Slike romaner stiller en rekke spørsmål om muligheten for rettferdig oppgjør i etterkant av folkemordet, og i stedet for å forenkle og karikere, forsøker de å forstå vilkårene for ekstreme handlinger og ekstrem skyld.…”

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Hva kan arves? Om skyld, vold og seksualitet i to nordiske krigsminneromaner

Langås¹

2023

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During the last two decades, an increasing focus on perpetrators has emerged in Scandinavian literature. This so called perpetrator fiction, with an explicit intention of understanding evil, has portrayed the Nazis and their henchmen in detail. These are frequently described in familial relationships, and their stories are told from a second or third generational point of view. Interestingly, the perpetrators are regularly depicted as perverse persons and their deviant sexuality as part of the problem. In this article, I discuss two Scandinavian novels with the family as a narrative structure and the perpetrator as its main character. The novels Jeg har arvet en mørk skog (2012) by Morten Borgersen and Stormen. En berättelse (2016) by Steve Sem-Sandberg deal with wartime events seen from a present-day I-narrator’s point of view. Both novels incorporate mythology and perverse sexuality, and they ask provocative questions about the causes of wartime violence.

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“…The passage opens a channel for psychic connection that blur distinctions between the sisters -a form of 'heteropathic identification' that 'externally projects the self onto the other' 14 -so that the stress falls on the experience of shared suffering at the threshold between life and death:…”

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confidence: 99%