SHHH itty/oah. Raymond Federman's Autobiographical Strategies

Abstract

The article is an analysis of the posthumously published "Shhh: The Story of a Childhood" by Raymond Federman. In the book, Federman revolves around the primary scene of his writing, when his mother pushed him into the closet and, whispering “shhh,” hid him from the Gestapo. I examine how the author, while undermining the supposedly autobiographical narrative of his survival, simultaneously disarms the discourse of the sublime that has weighed on many reflections on Shoah. For this reason, I analyze the intertwining of scatology and the blunt representation of sexuality present in Federman's writing.

Keywords

• Raymond Federman
• Shoah
• testimony
• postmodernism