Abstract
In this paper I will reflect on the role of photographs in the works of Daša Drndić. Mixing fictional and documentary modes is a characteristic feature of her texts. It is achieved among others by utilizing visual representations of the past. In my paper I aim to outline the strategies of visualization applied by the authoress (especially the traumatic, Holocaust-related experience), which materialize through photographs included in her works of literature. In the case of Drndić the visuals include for instance contemporary or archival photographs of places marked by the Holocaust and of Jewish inhabitants of Vienna as well as portraits of war criminals. Generally speaking, in her texts the photographs function as concretization (concretization) of the memory of injustice, of trauma and ultimately of the Holocaust. The photographs are by no means neutral images though they are commonly perceived as such. Interaction between the text (itself skirting the boundary between fact and fiction) and the image puts the latter in a position that is far from neutral. In Drndić’s case, the photos are often used as an inventory (archival) practice, but they constitute predominantly a way of overcoming the crisis, related to the intention of giving an account of the past, particularly a testimony of the Holocaust.
Highlights
Sabina GiergielMixing fictional and documentary modes is a characteristic feature of her texts
In the case of Drndić’s works, the visuals include, for instance, contemporary or archival photographs of places marked by the Holocaust and of Jewish inhabitants of Vienna, as well as portraits of war criminals
The focus of this article is literature that reveals the mediatory role of photographs in the novels by the Croatian author Daša Drndić
Summary
Mixing fictional and documentary modes is a characteristic feature of her texts. It is achieved, among other ways, by utilizing visual representations of the past. In the case of Drndić’s works, the visuals include, for instance, contemporary or archival photographs of places marked by the Holocaust and of Jewish inhabitants of Vienna, as well as portraits of war criminals. Speaking, in her texts, photographs function as concretisation of the memory of injustice, of trauma and of the Holocaust.
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