A New Way of Speaking: Jonathan Safran Foer’s Everything Is Illuminated and Effective Forms of Holocaust Literature

Authors

Elizabeth A. Bentley, Harding UniversityFollow

Document Type

Research Paper

Date of Completion

Spring 4-6-2018

Project Type

Honors Capstone

Department

English

Faculty Advisor

Dr. Terry Engel

Faculty Advisor

Dr. Kathy Dillion

Abstract

This paper examines the use of broken English, magic realism, and nonlinearity in the novel Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer, arguing that such nontraditional narrative techniques are appropriate for depicting the Holocaust, which cannot be represented by conventional narrative form. This paper also examines the ethicality of creating a fictional work about the Holocaust: I argue that Foer distinguishes well between that which is meant to be taken literally and that which is meant to be understood symbolically, and that he in no way compromises the essential core of truth of what occurred during the Nazi genocide.

Copyright held by

author

Recommended Citation

Bentley, E. A. (2018). A New Way of Speaking: Jonathan Safran Foer’s Everything Is Illuminated and Effective Forms of Holocaust Literature. Retrieved from https://scholarworks.harding.edu/honors-research/2