L'hipocrisie dans Dom Juan de Molière - Repositório Científico do ...

Simões, Anabela Valente – Identity and belonging in the novels of Doron Rabinovici 39 –55Eltern sich nicht erinnern wollten, wovon zu reden sie mieden, konnten sie inallen Deutlichkeit nicht vergessen” 10 (Idem: 30).Particularly critical to this first generation is the fact that they must notonly live with their haunted memories of the past, but they need as well to live ina country that had long forgotten its own crimes. In a clear allusion to Austria’sNational-Socialist past, the narrator ironically adds: “Schuldige durften nicht zufinden sein in einem Land, das allgemeine Unbeflektheit beanspruchte” 11 (Idem:47); in another passage of the novel the same question is again raised “Wer, sofragten einzelne Großväter mit zitterndem Zeigefinger, wäre in der Stadt und indiesem Land denn frei von Schuld?” 12 (Idem: 182).According to his parents Dani must assume a particular role: on the onehand he must assimilate, be like every other child; on the other hand, he must notforget he is different, that he has a historical and familiar legacy. His personalidentity must therefore occupy a secondary position and give place to a veryspecific social function: neither forget the past, nor dishonor the dead. Thisdemand would lead to profound feelings of guilt and Dani then turns into themysterious, shrouded figure of Mullemann, a mummy-like character whoassumes the guilt for every crime perpetrated in the country. Affected by thetransference of his parents’ traumas, by his parents’ feelings of guilt for havingsurvived, Dani seeks a form of catharsis for the mistakes he feels he might havecommitted.In Ohnehin (Anyway), the figure of Lew Feiniger, a second-generationRussian Jew, portrayed as the son who has had to fulfil the projections andaspirations of a family that lost everything during the nazi persecution, representssome of these complexities as well. However, the range of presented identities ishere much wider; not only first and second generation Jews, but also Gentiles,10 [ What hi s p are nt s did not w ant t o re m e m be r, w h at t he y a vo id e d t al ki ngabou t , t he y c ou ld obv iou sly n ot f org e t . ]11 [ C u lpr it s w e re not t o be f ou nd in a c ou nt ry t hat c l aim e d g e ne ra lf au lt le s sne ss. ]12 [ Who, as ke d som e g rand f at he r s w it h a t re m bli ng f ing e r , w ou ld be in t he c it yand in t hi s c ou nt ry f re e f rom g u ilt ? ]49 Polissema – Revista de Letras do ISCAP – Vol. 12 -2012