Memory Work ─ The Second Generation

Memory Work makes a contribution to our understanding of the intimate effects of the Holocaust on victims' families, and the significant role of 'memory work' by survivors' children within the broader frame of cultural memory in the English-speaking countries of post-war Jewish diasporas. It studies how these authors explore the past in their literary texts, primarily life writing. By identifying key areas where memory manifests and can be traced – family objects, given names, bodies, food, the memorial uses of the Passover Seder, and the attacks of 9/11 – it shows how the Second Generation engages with the pre-Holocaust family and their parents' survival. Departing from prevailing trauma studies approaches, Fischer builds an argument for the positive achievements of memory work by Second Generation writers in reconnecting with their family's pre-Holocaust life, a 'usable past,' in spite of horrific loss.

Nina Fischer is currently a visiting Research Fellow at the University of Edinburgh, UK. She has held positions and fellowships at the University of Konstanz, the Australian National University and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Her research areas include Holocaust, Memory, Cultural, and Jewish Studies.