Trauma, Memory and the Act of Writing in Ruth Klüger’s Autobiographical Project

Abstract

Abstract This essay intends to shed light on the motivation behind Ruth Klüger’s autobiographical project by examining the relationship between trauma, memory and the act of writing. Exploring the catalyst for writing reveals that Klüger’s autobiographical texts have a dual function: they serve as a public call for dialogue, as well as a kind of therapy allowing her to work through the traumas of her past. I demonstrate that for this reason, it is crucial to take into consideration not just the well-known weiter leben: Eine Jugend (1992), but also its revised English self-translation Still Alive: A Holocaust Girlhood Remembered (2001). Writing, editing, revising and translating create a space for Klüger’s continuous engagement with her past and its traumas – an engagement that is ongoing, continuing beyond the first writing of the text, and that stems from an innate desire to understand better the driving forces of her own life and her survival against all odds.