Abstract
This chapter examines the role of the witness as a narrator, writer, and historian through a comparison of the writings and testimony of Primo Levi and those of Georges Perec. Despite the significant differences between the two, which cannot be ignored, both Levi and Perec focus on the role and the ability of the witness to provide authentic testimony. Based upon this comparison between Levi’s testimony and that of Perec, I argue that the very fact that we are in an era of testimony in which the witness is also his own historian means that there are no innocent “uncontaminated” witnesses. Moreover, I attempt to show that Levi and Perec, each in his own way, propose an authentic model for bearing witness.
This chapter was written following a conversation with Yuval Neria and several friends during the Shivah mourning period for his father. The chapter is dedicated to those who know something but out of love and compassion choose not to tell about it, even at a great personal price.
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- 1.
Belpoliti edited the collection of interviews and conversations with Primo Levi. Before each quotation or set of related quotations I note the name of the interviewer and the date of the interview (or its publication date).
- 2.
On the other hand, this cyclone can be interpreted as an outburst of traumatic memory . Indeed, with Perec anything is possible.
- 3.
Kafka, F. (2011). In the penal colony. Penguin UK.
- 4.
In the following sections, quotations that were previously given are presented in italics without indicating the page number.
- 5.
First published as La Chiave a Stella by Einaudi in 1978, the book was written after Levi had retired from SIVA. Published in English in 1987.
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Ataria, Y. (2016). The Death of the Witness in the Era of Testimony: Primo Levi and Georges Perec. In: Ataria, Y., Gurevitz, D., Pedaya, H., Neria, Y. (eds) Interdisciplinary Handbook of Trauma and Culture. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29404-9_13
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