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Catherine Padmore's article seeks to understand the 'spectral effect' of Dead Europe. She explores 'two (out of many possible) main ideas, both of which involve a form of literary possession. These are:
1. The strategic use of the ghost story form to produce uncanny effects;
and
2. The lingering and difficult question of whether or not this novel is anti-Semitic.' (p.53)
Padmore concludes: 'Dead Europe can disturb readers on a number of levels. It uses traditional ghost story techniques and encourages reader identification with a confronting character to create a compelling literary possession not simply between characters within the book but between book and reader. In this way it provokes, but does not answer, multiple questions. Lodged in me, the novel's ghosts continue to provoke, unsettle and disturb, long after reading has finished.' (p.62)
Notes
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Epigraph: Ah, do not ghosts prove - even rumours, whispers, stories of ghosts - that the past clings, that we are always going back ... - Graham Swift, Waterland (89)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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'What's Haunting Dead Europe?' Trauma Fiction as a Reaction to Postmodern Governmentality
2011
single work
criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 11 no. 2 2011; 'The ghosts of Christos Tsiolkas' Dead Europe have been a key focus of its critical reception. This article offers an alternative reading of these ghosts, arguing that Tsiolkas writes trauma fiction to challenge the totalising discourse of postmodern governmentality, to assert the impossibility of an end to history, and to write fiction which haunts its readers to enact an ethical relationship with the traumatic past.' (Author's abstract)
-
'What's Haunting Dead Europe?' Trauma Fiction as a Reaction to Postmodern Governmentality
2011
single work
criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 11 no. 2 2011; 'The ghosts of Christos Tsiolkas' Dead Europe have been a key focus of its critical reception. This article offers an alternative reading of these ghosts, arguing that Tsiolkas writes trauma fiction to challenge the totalising discourse of postmodern governmentality, to assert the impossibility of an end to history, and to write fiction which haunts its readers to enact an ethical relationship with the traumatic past.' (Author's abstract)
JASAL
