Date of Award
2007
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Program
Comparative Literature
Supervisor
Tim Blackmore
Abstract
Mixed media representations play an important part in contemporary Western cultural practices concerned with Holocaust remembrance. This thesis investigates hybrid approaches - photography and written word, graphic novel, and installation art - employed by second generation postHolocaust artists. Specifically, it considers WG Sebald’s Austerlitz, Art Spiegelman’s Maus, and selected works by Christian Boltanski. The first objective is to provide a discussion of form, to which end special attention is paid to the role of orality, objects, and photographs. A second concern is with how such texts deal with mourning as a central void, frequently taking an oblique approach to a sense of overwhelming absence. Finally, the focus shifts to the question of haunting as both a thematic presence and a structural technique of recurring motifs. By interrogating diverse aesthetic choices, the thesis attempts to show that the possibilities made available to both artist and viewer in a mixed media work provide a refreshing and provocative rethinking of Holocaust representation.
Recommended Citation
Rettig, Monica, "MIXED MEDIA & POSTMEMORY: HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE IN SEBALD, SPIEGELMAN, AND BOLTANSKI" (2007). Digitized Theses. 4981.
https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/digitizedtheses/4981