Turning Sorrow into Song: Silence, Absence and Unreadability in Elizabeth Rosner’s Gravity
This article explores Elizabeth Rosner’s second-generation poetic rendition of the Holocaust, Gravity (2014), offering an insightful framework to further scholarship on the intergenerational transmission of trauma, examined through the lens of postmemorial poetry. I specifically concentrate on Rosne...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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European Association for American Studies
2023-07-01
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| Series: | European Journal of American Studies |
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| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/ejas/20056 |
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| author | Laura Miñano Mañero |
| author_facet | Laura Miñano Mañero |
| author_sort | Laura Miñano Mañero |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This article explores Elizabeth Rosner’s second-generation poetic rendition of the Holocaust, Gravity (2014), offering an insightful framework to further scholarship on the intergenerational transmission of trauma, examined through the lens of postmemorial poetry. I specifically concentrate on Rosner’s poetry of remembrance as it dwells on the role of language and silence in representing the vicarious experience of the Shoah. Through a sustained exploration of the traces of an inherited trauma that renders the past inaccessible, simultaneously present and occluded, the poet endows the motif of silence with unique meaning. Surrendering to the compulsions of verse, attempting to restore to language what is lost, without ever succeeding, and integrating the legacy of the Old into the New World, I contend that Rosner reaches a form of posttraumatic growth that is only made possible through poetic engagement. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-2f880fa8287d4b298593595592627bf6 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1991-9336 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2023-07-01 |
| publisher | European Association for American Studies |
| record_format | Article |
| series | European Journal of American Studies |
| spelling | doaj-art-2f880fa8287d4b298593595592627bf62025-01-06T09:08:05ZengEuropean Association for American StudiesEuropean Journal of American Studies1991-93362023-07-0118210.4000/ejas.20056Turning Sorrow into Song: Silence, Absence and Unreadability in Elizabeth Rosner’s GravityLaura Miñano MañeroThis article explores Elizabeth Rosner’s second-generation poetic rendition of the Holocaust, Gravity (2014), offering an insightful framework to further scholarship on the intergenerational transmission of trauma, examined through the lens of postmemorial poetry. I specifically concentrate on Rosner’s poetry of remembrance as it dwells on the role of language and silence in representing the vicarious experience of the Shoah. Through a sustained exploration of the traces of an inherited trauma that renders the past inaccessible, simultaneously present and occluded, the poet endows the motif of silence with unique meaning. Surrendering to the compulsions of verse, attempting to restore to language what is lost, without ever succeeding, and integrating the legacy of the Old into the New World, I contend that Rosner reaches a form of posttraumatic growth that is only made possible through poetic engagement.https://journals.openedition.org/ejas/20056HolocaustpoetryElizabeth Rosnerunreadabilityintergenerational transmission of traumaekphrasis |
| spellingShingle | Laura Miñano Mañero Turning Sorrow into Song: Silence, Absence and Unreadability in Elizabeth Rosner’s Gravity European Journal of American Studies Holocaust poetry Elizabeth Rosner unreadability intergenerational transmission of trauma ekphrasis |
| title | Turning Sorrow into Song: Silence, Absence and Unreadability in Elizabeth Rosner’s Gravity |
| title_full | Turning Sorrow into Song: Silence, Absence and Unreadability in Elizabeth Rosner’s Gravity |
| title_fullStr | Turning Sorrow into Song: Silence, Absence and Unreadability in Elizabeth Rosner’s Gravity |
| title_full_unstemmed | Turning Sorrow into Song: Silence, Absence and Unreadability in Elizabeth Rosner’s Gravity |
| title_short | Turning Sorrow into Song: Silence, Absence and Unreadability in Elizabeth Rosner’s Gravity |
| title_sort | turning sorrow into song silence absence and unreadability in elizabeth rosner s gravity |
| topic | Holocaust poetry Elizabeth Rosner unreadability intergenerational transmission of trauma ekphrasis |
| url | https://journals.openedition.org/ejas/20056 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT lauraminanomanero turningsorrowintosongsilenceabsenceandunreadabilityinelizabethrosnersgravity |