Holocaust Narratives

Thorsten Wilhelm studied History and English Literature and Linguistics at the University of Heidelberg and the University of Durham. He received his Staatsexamen (M.A.) in 2014. In 2019, Thorsten was awarded his Ph.D. summa cum laude by the English Department at Heidelberg University for his dissertation on "Traumatic Memories—Memories of Trauma: Post-1945 Jewish American Fiction and the Cultural Work of Trauma Narratives." Thorsten’s work comprises trauma theory and cultural productions at the interstices of trauma, memory, and narrative. Apart from his work on contemporary literature and its diverse traumata, Thorsten is fascinated by the 19th century. He lives his euphoria for Charles Dickens by working on a digitization project of rare and unique archival materials at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University. He has been a Curatorial Fellow at the Beinecke in 2018.Thorsten has been a Baden-Württemberg Lector at Yale University since 2016. He teaches German language, culture, and writing, and is interested in pedagogy with a focus on cultural learning and the production of cultural perceptions. He is a peer-reviewer for Die Unterrichtspraxis/Teaching German and book-reviewer for CALICO.

"A major achievement, bringing subtle analysis of Holocaust trauma to bear on the narratives that construct the collective discourse of its meanings. Wilhelm's fine analysis helps us understand the continuing impact of the Shoah on ‘the memories of the future’ generated by second and third generation witnesses." Professor Emeritus Murray Baumgarten, University of California, Santa Cruz and Founding Director, The Dickens Project"In his penetrating analysis Thorsten Wilhelm binds the remembrance of the past to a remembrance for the future. With every day that separates us from the Holocaust his work becomes more pressing. Wilhelm has summoned each of us to a testimony in which our very humanity is at stake." Professor David Patterson, Hillel Feinberg Distinguished Chair in Holocaust Studies, Ackerman Center for Holocaust Studies, University of Texas at Dallas"The often invoked ‘Never again!’ relies on the continuous, while also impossible, re-presentation of the horrors and the on-going trauma of the Holocaust. This study is an acute and highly intelligent exploration into the trajectory of literary efforts to conceptualize, record, and narrate the memory of the experience of trauma beyond the generation of direct survivors." Dr. Margit Peterfy, Senior Lecturer in American Studies, University of Heidelberg

• Introduction: Holocaust traumata and their generational legacies and emanationsGenerations: structural frameworksThe dialogical nature of (collective) traumaTrauma theory: concepts, implications, outlooksMoving trauma theory into the generation of postmemoryLiving in the aftermath: forms of traumaInsterstices between individual and cultural traumaTrauma as connective forceStructure of the bookNarrating the inexpressible: Wiesel’s Night as testimonial trendsetterGod on the gallows: doublings of faithTrauma in the mirror: identities in the face of traumaParadigmatic accuser: connecting audiencesWitness in search of meaning and silenceSurviving and remembering: representing trauma in the presentThe truth of fiction in Louis Begley’s Wartime LiesNarrated identities: fictionalization of self and its actual factsNegotiating fact and fiction in meaningful representation for the audienceThe creation of meaning and its passing ownership(R/De-)construction of narrative and real identityAsserting control by narrative meansRescuing one’s memory from past traumata: Cheryl Pearl Sucher’s The Rescue of MemoryPast and Present: making a stance of one’s ownPhotographs and other stories: past negatives and healing traumaGenerational Connections: approaching first- and second-generation traumaFirst-hand trauma in second-generation writingEmancipation through embedding: establishing a meaningful presence of the pastMeaningful incorporation of past trauma into present narrativesEncaustic memories: Second-generation assertions in Rosenbaum’s Second Hand SmokeTraumatic impositions: connecting first- and second-generation traumaEncountering the ghosts: generational connections to the pastClose contact: breaking down past and present distinctions Imposing trauma: between filial rage and generational forgivenessIndividual and cultural authorship over trauma storiesDamaged goods: navigating parental trauma and one’s ownExclusion from and inclusion into parental narrativesRemembering, letting go, and incorporating the past into the presentProgressive and tragic narrative outlook in overcoming traumaConnecting worlds: Narrative networks in Horn’s The World to ComeGenerational temporal connectionsChoosing narrative, choosing lifeLinguistic connections to translated pastsStoried bridges: connecting present, past, and future worldsMeaningful narratives: paper bridges between (past) trauma and (present) meaningsConnecting worlds: people as storiesCreating a future from the pastStories as narrative intersections between generationsWhen memory fails: Fiction as history in Everything Is IlluminatedNarrative trajectories: limitations of fictional meaning creationGenerational positions: midrashic engagements and circular historicity(Re-)Constructing the past: interrelations between the place and its stories Language and silence: connective phantasmagorias of meaningWorkable terminologies: integrating past-tensed factsFictional records: tracking meanings between past and presentNarrative realities: permeating events and storiesImaginative representation: memory’s narrative dependenciesGenerational catharsis in dyadic, generational encountersConclusion: The future of trauma