On 28-Nov-05, at 10:20 AM, Mark Weiss wrote:
> Are you saying that the survivor gets a pass? Where does that leave
> survivors like Celan or Canetti?
>
> I've run a few holocaust survivor writing and reminiscence workshops.
> The stories were memorable, to say the least, but the writing rarely
> was. Some of what I asked of participants was what I would ask of
> participants of any workshop--rather than something like showtrial
> testimony, which is what most were accustomed to presenting, I pushed
> them towards greater and greater detail of things, feelings, etc., and
> I helped them clarify their writing. Still, the interest was more
> documentary than literary. I'm not sure why that's a difficult
> distinction. We value writing for different reasons.
>
> As to feedback or criticism, don't we always seek the appropriate
> level of tact?
>
> Within the survivor world I noticed a reticence to criticize based on
> degree of suffering, and there was a definite hierarchy, from death
> camp survivor to refugee. No criticism was ever allowed to travel
> upwards--the death camp survivor could criticize the labor camp
> survivor, but not the other way around. And no one could criticize the
> dead or imply that their own survival had been aided by superior
> wiliness--that would imply that the dead had perished because they
> lacked survival skills. The lowest on the hierarchy, of course, was
> me, which was awkward, because my position of authority was in itself
> a breach of the rule.
>
> Doug, are you suggesting something like this when you say "it depends
> on who's writing it?"
>
> Mark
>
>
I think so, Mark, but I never have done any workshops with holocaust
survivors, & so definitely defer to those, like you, who have. I was
trying to make the point you do: 'As to feedback or criticism, don't we
always seek the appropriate level of tact?'
Nevertheless, if one can help a writer to take the writing to a more
subtle, more definite, more specific, etc place, then shouldn't one try
to do so? With tact?
In this situation, however, as you say, the already existing hierarchy
of suffering may trump such approaches....
Doug
Douglas Barbour
11655 - 72 Avenue NW
Edmonton Ab T6G 0B9
(780) 436 3320
Shakespeare
Drag yr mouldy old bones
Up these stairs & tell me
What you died of,
I think
I’ve got it
Too.
Sharon Thesen
|