Record Detail

In the semi-autobiographic novel Nekropola (Necropolis, 1966) of the Slovene author Boris Pahor (born in 1913), the main character revisits the concentration camp Natzweiler-Struthof where he spent part of his imprisonment during the Second World War. During this visit the world of the concentration-camp prisoner and the world of the concentration-camp survivor are reunited. In both worlds the (lack of) connection between the protagonist and the surrounding characters, and the hereto related emotional spectrum of loneliness (alienation,
distance, solitude) occupy a central position. Earlier research pointed out that the
reunion of the concentration-camp world in the memories of the protagonist and the
world he lives in now emphasizes the discrepancy between these two worlds. Based
on the narrative concepts described by Michael Rothberg (timelessness, falsifiability
and normality vs the extreme), this article indicates that this discrepancy actually
does not only originate in the confrontation between the world of the past and the
present. Illustrated by the very different and sometimes opposite effects of the
constant confrontation with loneliness, distance and alienation, present paper
reveals that this hiatus between past and present is embedded in the state of mind, or
rather, in the identity of the main character.