The Comforting Power of Kitsch. The (Esthetic) Meanders of Holocaust Literature

Abstract

The paper is an attempt at outlining the esthetics of kitsch in Holocaust literature. On the basis of Abraham Moles’ and Saul Friedländer’s distinctions, the author analyses works of fiction, Boyne’s The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, and Littel’s The Kindly Ones, indentifying elements of kitsch in them: Perpetrator’s perspective narration, stylistic excess, shocking with cruelty, artistic conformism. In the autobiographical works of Roma Ligocka and Marta Sztokfisz/Edyta Klein, the signs of kitsch mark the overly egocentric narrative perspective, as well as the camouflaging of the auto-fictional character of the alleged memoirs.