Approaching emotional deficits through the lens of epigenetics. The sensory sublimation of trauma in Anna Wiśniewska-Grabarczyk’s Porzeczkowy Josef
Approaching emotional deficits through the lens of epigenetics. The sensory sublimation of trauma in Anna Wiśniewska-Grabarczyk’s Porzeczkowy Josef
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Author(s): Marzena Woźniak-ŁabieniecSubject(s): Language and Literature Studies
Published by: Łódzkie Towarzystwo Naukowe
Keywords: Anna Wiśniewska-Grabarczyk; literature and memory; postmemory; epigenetics; Shoah
Summary/Abstract: The article examines Anna Wiśniewska-Grabarczyk’s Porzeczkowy Josef (Currant Josef), which was nominated for the 2019 Witold Gombrowicz Literary Award, from the epigenetic perspective. The novel tells a story of coping with the difficult memories of a concentration camp. Those experiences and the anxiety that they produce were ‘inherited’ by the granddaughter from her grandmother. In the suppressed memories, love merges with hatred and the victim’s attachment to the perpetrator – with shame. As the article argues, what plays an important role in coping with this trauma are richly described sensory impressions (scents, flavours, tactile impressions).
Journal: Prace Polonistyczne
- Issue Year: 2020
- Issue No: 75
- Page Range: 191-209
- Page Count: 19
- Language: English