Inheriting the Holocaust: Transfer of Trauma in Doron Rabinovici’s Suche nach M

Abstract

Psychologists have observed that unresolved Holocaust traumas can be passed from survivors to their children. This phenomenon, termed trans-generational transfer of trauma, is also evident in some literary works of second-generation authors. This essay provides a brief introduction to the theory of trans-generational transfer of trauma and shows how it can provide another way of reading the literature of second-generation authors, such as Doron Rabinovici’s first novel, Suche nach M. (1999).

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Notes on contributors

Denise Dick

Denise Dick earned her doctorate from Wayne State University; she wrote her dissertation on the literature of the children of Holocaust survivors. She lives in Redmond, Washington, with her husband.