Martin Amis's Time's Arrow and the Ethics of Representation in Anglo-American Holocaust Fiction
The Anglo-American Holocaust fiction,written by non-Jewish novelists in English-speaking countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States,has always had the ethical crisis of representation.Martin Amis,in Time's Arrow,makes a great effort to overcome this crisis.Having identified himself with an Aryan,he represents the Nazi perpetrator as one of"us"rather than the incomprehensible"other,"leads people to think about the becoming of the"perpetrator,"and thus emphasizes the special mission of Anglo-American novelists,and highlights the value and potentials of Anglo-American Holocaust fiction.On the other hand,in order to avoid the readers'empathy that might be triggered by the de-otherizing of the perpetrator,the novel uses a"soul"narrator and"backwards"narration to keep a distance,with the ultimate aim of taking responsibility for the Holocaust victims.The novel thus gives answers to the key questions in the ethics of representation in Anglo-American Holocaust fiction:"what to represent,""how to represent,"and"why to represent."
Martin AmisTimes ArrowAnglo-American Holocaust Fictionethics of representationperpetrator
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