ABSTRACT
In this chapter, I shall discuss trauma and its possible representation in art in general and by writing a postmemory in particular. I shall argue that versus the danger of nullification and obliteration related to Holocaust experiences, writing a postmemory is an attempt to perform the opposite (mental) act: one of creating attendance and continued development and growth.
I shall present an imaginary letter that I wrote to my grandmother who was killed in the Holocaust and whom I never met. In the letter, I describe my fantasies regarding the potential relationship that could have existed between us and how her mental gaze accompanied my father in his ordeals during and after the war. Through it, I shall discuss the psychological processes that occur when writing a postmemory, related as they are to the (concrete and symbolic) creating of attendance in the events, creating an illusion of a responsive and beneficial inner mother that addresses the lack of an external empathic dyad experienced during the trauma. In addition, I shall discuss writing as facilitating an imaginary continuation of the psychological processes of mirroring and containment, cut short due to the Holocaust. I shall claim that in these ways writing a postmemory helps build a representation of experiences related to trauma and thus expands the further possibility of communicating about them with one’s surroundings.
