Performing History and Trauma in Literature: Artistic Responses to the Dictatorial Challenges of the 20th Century in Central Europe

Session Submission Type: Panel

Brief Description

The panel studies various ways of performing history and trauma in fiction. It focuses on strategies writers use to perform, in fiction, the complex legacy of 20th century dictatorships in Central Europe. It goes from the literature of the German occupation period, through the 1970s and its dissident movements in Central Europe and finishes with the post-1989 literary responses to the 20th century history in Central Europe and the legacy of communist dictatorship.

Sub Unit

• Literature: Central and Southeast Europe

Chair

• Jonathan H. Bolton, Harvard U

Papers

• Interpreting Silence in Czech Literary Responses to German Occupation: 1938-45 - Rajendra Anand Chitnis, U of Bristol (UK)

• Dynamics of Trauma: Václav Havel Writing Through Prison Bars - Astrid Muls, U Libre de Bruxelles (Belgium)

• The Spectre and the ‘Haunting Past’: Literary Representations of Central European Dictatorships of the 20th Century - Petra James, U Libre de Bruxelles (Belgium)

Discussant

• Daniel Webster Pratt, McGill U (Canada)