Internationale Neerlandistiek - Volume 52, Issue 2, 2014

This essay examines contemporary rewritings of World War II memory narratives. Drawing on the examples of Flughunde (1995) by German author Marcel Beyer and Marcel (1999) by Flemish author Erwin Mortier, I analyse the ways in which both authors address the complex processes of the transfer of guilt and perpetratorship from one generation to the next, which have marked public discourses in both national collectives in the aftermath of the war. This analysis shows how both authors challenge such habitual transfer, instead insisting on critical distance, empathic witnessing, and narrative integration. In this manner, they enable a fresh and productive approach of the past that moves beyond guilty silence, assignation of blame, or even calls for amnesty – this stance notably sets them apart from previous writings on the war.

This article discusses five historical novels by Louis Ferron: Gekkenschemer (1974), Het stierenoffer (1975), De keisnijder van Fichtenwald (1976) De gallische ziekte (1979) and Plicht! (1981). They deal with German history, particularly that of the Weimar Republic and the Third Reich. This article shows that the characters in these novels can be viewed in the light of Theodor Adorno's theory on the Authoritarian Personality.