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Madness in Literature: Madness as both Motif and a Source of Writing in Jewish Literature


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1 Istanbul Technical University, Turkey
     

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Madness as Both a Motif and a Source of Writing: "Kaddish for an Unborn Child," "Badenheim 1939," "Darkness Casts No Shadow" Behind what is narrated as the different experiences of certain minority groups is found the same dynamics of the minority issue. The narration of how some people are labeled as the 'other' leads the reader to a discussion of certain notions such as suppression, submission, silence, and madness. In my paper, I will take madness as one of the central motifs of the three novels. As a term related to the characters' psychological state, madness functions as a motif and sheds light on the analysis of their physical acts, their language, and their relations with other people. As a source of narration, madness forces the author to 'speak'. The act of writing - besides ensuring the writer's autonomy - also makes the writer responsible towards the reader. Within a theoretical analysis of the writing process, I will put special emphasis on the role of the writer and his/her relation with the reader. To explore this relationship, I will refer to several thinkers and authors as diverse as Michel Foucault, Shoshana Felman, and Czeslaw Milosz. By combining a theoretical analysis of madness with an interpretation of three literary works, I will make a re-study of the known relation between literature and madness.

Keywords

Madness, Writing, Literature.
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  • Aharon Appelfeld, interview by Ann Parson, http://www.annparson.com/appelfeld.htm, 2006.

  • Appelfeld, Aharon. Badenheim 1939. Boston: David G. Godine Publisher, 1980.

  • Felman, Shoshana. Writing and Madness. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2003.

  • Foucault, Michel. Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason. New York: Routledge, 2001.

  • Kertesz, Imre. Kaddish for an Unborn Child. New York: Vintage International, 2004.

  • Lustig, Arnost. Darkness Casts No Shadow. London: Quartet Books, Limited, 1985.

  • Milosz, Czeslaw. To Begin Where I Am Farrar, New York: Straus and Giroux, 2002.

  • Rieger, Branimir M. Introduction in Dionysus in Literature: Essays on Literary Madness, 1-16. Edited by Branimir M. Rieger. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2011

  • Rothberg, Michael. Traumatic Realism: The Demands of Holocaust Representation. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2010.

  • Sun, Emily and Eyal Peretz, Ulrich Baer. Introduction in The Claims of Literature: A Shoshana Felman Reader, 1-11. Edited by Emily Sun, Eyal Peretz, Ulrich Baer. New York: Fordham University Press, 2007.


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  • Madness in Literature: Madness as both Motif and a Source of Writing in Jewish Literature

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Authors

Yasemin Yilmaz
Istanbul Technical University, Turkey

Abstract


Madness as Both a Motif and a Source of Writing: "Kaddish for an Unborn Child," "Badenheim 1939," "Darkness Casts No Shadow" Behind what is narrated as the different experiences of certain minority groups is found the same dynamics of the minority issue. The narration of how some people are labeled as the 'other' leads the reader to a discussion of certain notions such as suppression, submission, silence, and madness. In my paper, I will take madness as one of the central motifs of the three novels. As a term related to the characters' psychological state, madness functions as a motif and sheds light on the analysis of their physical acts, their language, and their relations with other people. As a source of narration, madness forces the author to 'speak'. The act of writing - besides ensuring the writer's autonomy - also makes the writer responsible towards the reader. Within a theoretical analysis of the writing process, I will put special emphasis on the role of the writer and his/her relation with the reader. To explore this relationship, I will refer to several thinkers and authors as diverse as Michel Foucault, Shoshana Felman, and Czeslaw Milosz. By combining a theoretical analysis of madness with an interpretation of three literary works, I will make a re-study of the known relation between literature and madness.

Keywords


Madness, Writing, Literature.

References