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Interpreters is a novel that explores the secrets and lies within families, the parent–child relationship, the interpretation of the past and the collective and personal guilt of a generation who grew up in Nazi Germany. Mindful of the moral and ethical issues inherent in memoir and autobiography, I explore the challenges and dilemmas encountered in creating a work of autobiographical fiction that draws on the experiences of those who may never have expected, or wanted, their stories to be told. I attempt to ensure ethical and artistic integrity by recording emotional rather than actual truths, by changing the stories' and the characters' natures, and liberating myself from the constraints of conventional life writing with its requirement for historical accuracy, logical timeframe and expectation of truthfulness.

Introduction -- The protection of Stefan Jerzy Zweig -- Building the Buchenwald myth -- The genesis and impact of Naked among wolves -- The cinema film of Naked among wolves -- Stefan Jerzy Zweig and the GDR -- The deconstruction of the Buchenwald child myth -- Epilogue

Many narratives now permeate the media space on the Israel-Palestine issue. History shows that we should take the words of militaries with a healthy does of scepticism, particularly when it comes to civilians.

Detective fiction is known as a genre that is concerned with revealing truths, both in the fictional world of the text as well as in the society after which it is patterned. The current socio-political environment, however, has been described as an era of post-truth politics and political propaganda, in which truth is more often determined by the relative strength of its representation. While some contemporary crime novels continue to propagate a reassuring message of truth, select Austrian narratives reflect this new so-called post-truth world. Bringing together theories of detective fiction and post-truth discourse, this article demonstrates how Eva Rossmann&rsquo ; s 2017 crime novel Patrioten (Patriots) adapts the themes and structures of traditional detective narratives to expose a society in which certainty is determined less by objective facts than by their construction in the media and socio-political discourse. The analysis concludes that the novel&rsquo ; s thematic and formal innovations help to redefine the socio-critical potential of contemporary detective fiction by showing the imminent dangers of an unregulated post-truth society.

The thesis is the result of a four-year research project, which takes its point of departure in a simple, vast question: What can fiction tell us about the world that journalism and science cannot? The truth of fiction – if there is one – must obviously entail something other than factual truth. But how can it be assessed? This dilemma is tackled by exploring two specific cases, South Africa and Argentina, and the relationship between literary fiction and society's dramatic transformation in the two countries over the past three decades. South Africa and Argentina are both extraordinarily rich in literary production and moreover share a common experience of transition from a traumatic near past; in South Africa the system of racial segregation known as apartheid and the culmination of violence in the "interregnum years"; in Argentina the latest military dictatorship and its "dirty war" on the militant left, which took the character of extermination.The concept of transition has different connotations in the two cases, primarily due to the diametrically opposed outcomes of the political militancy. The demise of the apartheid state was conceived as the victory of the liberation struggle, whereas Argentina's return to democracy was in a way the result of a double defeat; the annihilation of the revolutionary guerrillas, followed by the humiliation for their vanquishers in the disastrous campaign to reconquer Malvinas (the Falklands) from Great Britain.Given the dissimilar historical contexts and diverging cultural traditions, the experiential correspondences between the two countries become the more striking. Literature has been a crucial means for differing attempts at looking the horrific past in the face and taking possession of history and memory. Both South Africa and Argentina abound with examples of interrogations of the present and the near past by means of fiction (or documentary forms with fictional elements) that arguably have played a proactive role in the transition process, by displaying public lies ...

Many narratives now permeate the media space on the Israel-Palestine issue. History shows that we should take the words of militaries with a healthy does of scepticism, particularly when it comes to civilians.

Angry young man / Tadeusz Borowski -- The alchemist / Primo Levi -- The kabbalist in the death camps / Elie Wiesel -- The anti-witness / Piotr Rawicz -- The art of the self / Jerzy Kosinski (or the prankster)? -- Child of Auschwitz / Imre Kertesz -- A story for you / Thomas Keneally, Steven Spielberg -- The ghost writer / Wolfgang Koeppen -- The effect of the real / W.G. Sebald -- Willing executioners / Bernhard Schlink -- Identity theft : The second generation -- The third generation

It is widely believed that nationalism in India stemmed from European domination. Imperialism, for the first time, generated the sentiment of 'nationhood' that brought together people of diverse religions, languages, and lifestyles to demand home rule. The process involved cultural revivalism, yet retained strong ties with the inheritance of two centuries of foreign domination. The spur to the writing of cultural tracts was sharp and the attempt to rewrite the 'true' history of their country became the leading preoccupation of intellectuals. Consequently, indigenous histories of different kinds emerged over a period of years preceding independence and in the years after 1947. Different generic models were used in an attempt to replace the 'inauthentic' historical accounts compiled by Europeans, featuring instead themes or motifs of writing that emphasized an assertion of a culture which was comparable, if not superior, to that of their European peers. Correspondingly, historiography and fiction-writing depicted national heroes, full of deeds of valour and bravery, engaged in wresting their 'nation' from the aggressor by an emphasis on indigenous themes. Models of writing structured around the earlier epics, the use of local dialects, the emphasis on ancient rituals and practices, all went into the making of a 'pure' tradition.

The legend of Atlantis was almost certainly invented by Plato to promote the political ideal of his masterwork The Republic, while praising the heroism of his own ancestors. This paper suggests that, in assembling the story, Plato might have reworked the myth of the foundation of Egypt—attributed to divine invaders bringing agriculture and unknown technologies to the country—and popularized in Greece through the writings of Herodotus. The key issue explored is the curious coincidence between the period of the alleged foundation of Egypt (according to traditional Egyptian sources) and some remarkable events that characterized the end of the Ice Age. Indeed, besides the sudden increase in temperature and the consequent rise in sea level, the period was also marked by the birth of agriculture and the appearance of totally new technologies in diverse Near Eastern locations. The memory of these events would have been handed down through the myth of the foundation of Egypt, and through this, to Greek culture, enabling Plato to exaggerate the antiquity of his noble ancestors, while embellishing the characteristics of the invaders. Such occasional technological leaps may also have occurred elsewhere in the world, for instance on the deltas of the Indus or the Yangtze, driven by the same change in climate that affected the whole planet. Although today there is no archaeological evidence of such events besides in the Near East, the article suggests that the possible discovery of obsidian in a submerged site would be a strong indication of a local technological leap. To this end it examines, as a Mediterranean example, some flooded islands in the Strait of Sicily, which, lying on the route to Pantelleria, may retain traces of ancient obsidian exploitation.