In the following research I will be exploring the notion of literary testimony in relation to the trauma of Second World War Nazi concentration camps, by analysing two works of fiction: Lovely Green Eyes (Krásné zelené oči, 1996) by Arnošt Lustig and The War: A Memoir (La Douleur, 1985), by Marguerite Duras. I will attempt to show why literature is the means through which we are best capable of facing trauma, regarding its psychological mechanisms. Fiction enables us to face the repetitive re-living of the traumatic event – and it is only throught testimony of suffering that suffering may be transformed.
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