TESTIMONY AND PROXIMITY

SONNENSCHEIN DAŠE DRNDIĆ

Abstract

Focusing on Daša Drndić’s novel Sonnenschein (published in 2007 in Zagreb, and translated and published in English in 2011, and in French in 2013, but under the title Trieste), this paper addresses several important questions regarding literary testimonies: How is it possible to bear witness to events that one has not experienced personally? In an age in which first-hand testimonies are becoming more and more rare, how do we preserve the memory of the Holocaust? What role might literature have in an era of testimony? Why is it still important to discuss the position of the witness?