Literary means of expressing trauma: silence and darkness in Dara Horn’s novel The World to Come

Authors

  • Lucyna Aleksandrowicz-Pędich SWPS Uniwersytet Humanistycznospołeczny w Warszawie

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.29107/rr2020.4.1

Keywords:

Dara Horn, trauma, anti-Semitism, silence, darkness

Abstract

The article explores Dara Horn’s novel The World to Come as an expression of the trauma of Jewish-American community related to its experiences of anti-Semitism in the Soviet Union, in the American army, of communist involvement and threats of modern terrorism. These issues are built into a complex narrative of family relationships, mixing fictional characters with historical figures. The analysis demonstrates how Horn’s textual strategies of silence and darkness represent the cultural trauma.

Author Biography

Lucyna Aleksandrowicz-Pędich, SWPS Uniwersytet Humanistycznospołeczny w Warszawie

Profesor w Katedrze Anglistyki Uniwersytetu SWPS. Specjalizuje się w literaturze amerykańskiej, twórczości pisarzy pochodzenia żydowskiego i komunikacji międzykulturowej. Autorka m.in. książki "Memory and Neighborhood: Poles and Poland in Jewish American Fiction after World War Two" (2013) i redaktorka serii Studies in Jewish History and Memory w wydawnictwie Peter Lang.

References

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Published

2020-12-27

How to Cite

Aleksandrowicz-Pędich, Lucyna. 2020. “Literary Means of Expressing Trauma: Silence and Darkness in Dara Horn’s Novel The World to Come”. Res Rhetorica 7 (4):2-16. https://doi.org/10.29107/rr2020.4.1.