Exploring the Canon
Jorge Semprún and the Legacy of Primo Levi
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12914973 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Greg Herman (0000-0002-2288-0323, Swansea University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2016 |
| Volume | 10 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 356-369 |
| Publication date | 2016-04-07 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of War and Culture Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1752-6272 • E-ISSN: 1752-6280 |
| Publisher | Routledge (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/17526272.2016.1146818 |
| OpenAlex | W2318992236 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 8 |
Within a field loosely termed as ‘trauma studies’, the question of closure for the ‘revenant’ or survivor of the camps has become a favoured trope of the academy. In an exploration of this area, this paper shall ask whether through the act of imitiation, cultural convention can be restored, and the potentially cathartic benefits of writing and testifying can be actively facilitated. This question shall be posed through a consideration of the influence that Primo Levi would have on Buchenwald deportee, Jorge Semprún, and in particular their shared sensation that life after the camps was but a dream. Though originally first penned by Levi, Semprún makes reference to this idea, explicitly and implicitly, time and again in works stretching from 1967 through to 1994. This paper examines the relationship between the quasi-canonical Levi and the lesser known Semprún and explores the influence, and the implications there-of, of the former on the latter, via the following questions: is Semprún's imitation of Levi an example of ‘mere’ empathetic identification with another deportee, or is it an altogether more aggressive assumption of identity? What are the implications of imitation within testimony for the possibility of ‘working-through’ and ‘acting out’? Is it possible for an uninfluenced, original and subjective voice to testify to the concentrationnary experience, when a writer such as Levi has, albeit against his wishes, come to be recognized as the authoritative voice of the univers concentrationnaire
Aesthetics · Art · Catharsis · Convention · Dream · Identity (music · Imitation · Literature · Psychoanalysis · Sociology · Trope (literature · Borges, Kipling, and Jewish Identity · History · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies · Literature and Cultural Memory · Philosophy · Psychology · Social Psychology
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,13 |
| Citation span | 2018 - 2018 (1) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |