„Myszy wyglądały żałośnie” – stawanie się zwierzęciem w czasie pogromu kijowskiego we wspomnieniach Jecheskiela Kotika
In 1881, Russia (after the killing of Alexander II, as well as for economic reasons) saw a wave of anti-Jewish riots, including the Kiev pogroms, the experience of which was portrayed by Yechezkel Kotik in his memoirs. He described the events by assuming the perspective of an animal – that of a mous...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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The Institute of Literary Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences
2022-12-01
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| Series: | Napis |
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| Online Access: | http://journals.openedition.org/napis/3708 |
| Summary: | In 1881, Russia (after the killing of Alexander II, as well as for economic reasons) saw a wave of anti-Jewish riots, including the Kiev pogroms, the experience of which was portrayed by Yechezkel Kotik in his memoirs. He described the events by assuming the perspective of an animal – that of a mouse. Within contemporary humanist discourses, a significant proportion of which is taken up by animal studies, texts have been created which question the opposition constructed by the dominant, oppressive group (humane-animalistic, human-animal), but also research fields related to subjectivity have been delineated. The Jew-mouse after the publication of Maus by Art Spiegelman and its reviews, or the many texts produced in recent years within the field of Holocaust studies, say a lot about the reasons behind the animalistic choice. In the work of Kotik, however, we encounter a very different set of issues, because we know that the creator of the text is a nineteenth-century author. The pogroms in Russia have changed (in their ‘modernity’) the perception of violence against Jewish people, which is why the emergence of an animal perspective in a work originating from the early twentieth century brings forward certain vital conclusions. |
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| ISSN: | 1507-4153 2719-4191 |