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“I Could Still See Her In My Mind’S Eye”: Water And Maternal Imagery In Uwe Johnson’S Anniversaries: From The Life Of Gesine Cresspahl, Caroline Rupprecht
“I Could Still See Her In My Mind’S Eye”: Water And Maternal Imagery In Uwe Johnson’S Anniversaries: From The Life Of Gesine Cresspahl, Caroline Rupprecht
Publications and Research
This article analyzes the writings of East German author Uwe Johnson (1934-84) in terms of his experimental style—specifically transitions between descriptive passages—in conjunction with maternal imagery, as discussed through reference to Susan Suleiman’s concept of a “1.5 generation” of Holocaust survivors. A non- Jewish German author, Johnson addresses German history from the position of the perpetrators, yet born in 1934, he experienced National Socialism from the point of view of a child. In his tetralogy, Anniversaries: From the Life of Gesine Cresspahl (1970-83), feelings of guilt and attempts to understand the German past are negotiated through the maternal figure. This …