Full text loading...
The novel Gebied 19 (Area 19) of Dutch author Esther Gerritsen is read primarily as a story about truth and fiction. Not surprisingly, as the novel is partly set in a fictional world and the main character’s name is Tomas, a reference to the biblical ‘Doubting Thomas’. An interpretation from the perspective of Law and Literature provides insights into the specific role memory plays for a democratic rule of law and how populism actively organizes its own power through a politics of ‘memorylessness’. As is argued and demonstrated on the basis of an analysis of the novel, memorylessness is a ticket to autocracy, but a democracy also needs some memorylessness for hope and forgiveness.
Article metrics loading...
Full text loading...
References