Anna Menyhért | Università degli Studi di Torino (original) (raw)
Papers by Anna Menyhért
S: I. M. O. N. SHOAH: INTERVENTION. METHODS. DOCUMENTATION., 2023
In this article, I analyse the short stories of Ida Fink, a Polish writer and Holocaust survivor.... more In this article, I analyse the short stories of Ida Fink, a Polish writer and Holocaust survivor. I focus on how she writes about traumatic memories, showing the perspectives of the vic- tims and survivors, as well as listeners, witnesses, and bystanders. Relatively little has been written about Ida Fink’s works apart from in Polish literary studies, and even less from a trauma studies perspective. This article aims to fill this gap. I show, through psychologi- cally oriented close readings of several short stories, how Ida Fink presents various trauma dynamics and trauma moments, as well as denial, indifference, and the inability to listen to the trauma of others. Some protagonists attempt to process and integrate their traumatic experiences through sharing and storytelling, but they are constantly rejected by those around them. Observers and bystanders often see the traumatised as “the other”, and they do not acknowledge their painful memories. Other stories show how changes in social norms brought about by war contributed to the ruptures of societal networks and the shat- tering of social norms, leading, through silencing trauma, to the formation of collective traumatisation, in which the social environment, despite the best individual intentions, invalidates and trivialises the traumatised person’s experience. On the other hand, at an- other level, for the reader, the stories can become an experience of working through collec- tive historical trauma.
Studia litteraria, Jul 1, 2011
Environment, space, place, 2016
The visual images, textual expressions, and rhetorical figures related to the image of the wounde... more The visual images, textual expressions, and rhetorical figures related to the image of the wounded, mutilated, and maimed country have become the cultural legacy of the Treaty of Trianon in Hungary, shaping collective identity. These representations have been influential in cultural memory throughout the 20th century until today in preventing Hungarian society from processing the collective trauma of Trianon. This process is linked to the present through many threads, among them the “Day of National Unity”, commemorating the signing of the Treaty of Trianon, introduced by the Hungarian government in 2010. As the well-known images of wounds and violent rhetoric have become available in the new media, commemoration practices applied in schools may transmit the unresolved historical trauma yet again to younger generations.
Palgrave Studies in Life Writing, 2020
Menyhért’s chapter looks at the transnational element in life stories and canonisation processes ... more Menyhért’s chapter looks at the transnational element in life stories and canonisation processes in connection with the transnational digital ‘afterlife’ of a writer. The chapter describes the case of Hungarian writer Renée Erdős (1879–1956). Menyhért wrote a bestselling fictional biography entitled A Free Woman (2016) about Erdős’s fascinating life. The fictional biography served as a starting point for an online trans-border network of researchers, family members of Erdős, other writers, translators and readers in several countries. The chapter enquires into what impact a transnational afterlife has on the canonisation of a woman writer marginalised in the national context: how the emergence of new, digital, trans-border, easily accessible communication channels can free institutionalised nation-based canon-forming structures and make life writing partly a participatory network activity.
In recent years, more and more social media (Facebook) groups have been created dealing with memo... more In recent years, more and more social media (Facebook) groups have been created dealing with memories of the Holocaust in Hungary. In this article, I analyze and compare two groups, ' " The Holocaust and My Family " and " The Descendants of the Victims and Survivors of the Holocaust " in the framework of my research project on the concept of digital trauma processing, entitled " Trauma Studies in the Digital Age: The Impact of Social Media on Trauma Processing in Life Narratives and Trauma Literature: the Case of Hungary. " I show how the concept of trauma and trauma processing itself are changing in the digital age as a consequence of the element of sharing (in posts and comments in digital media) gains more importance and thus counteracts the element of silence, which was considered the most important element of trauma on several levels. How does digital sharing of memories of traumas help unblock previously blocked avenues to the past, and how does it contribute to the processing of collective historical traumas and consequently to the mobilization of memories, modernization, and the transformation of identities. I examine how the given characteristics of the different types of Facebook groups, public or closed, influence the ways in which people communicate about a collective historical trauma. I touch upon the issue of research ethics in connection with the handling of sensitive data in social media research. I examine the book The Holocaust and My Family, a collection of posts from the group, and analyze as a case study a post and the related comments, in which a descendant of a perpetrator comes out in the group.
Hungarian studies review, Oct 1, 2017
And exactly this, the aporia, must be maintained in memory. Metaphorically speaking, every step l... more And exactly this, the aporia, must be maintained in memory. Metaphorically speaking, every step leads to the door of the gas-chamber, but no step leads inside." Reinhart Koselleck 1 "And they do not stop explaining things, to acknowledge their meaning even when they are closed in ghettos, herded together and deported." Randolph L. Braham 2
![Research paper thumbnail of Séllei, Nóra. Miért félünk a farkastól: feminista irodalomszemlélet itt és most [Why Are We Afraid of (Virginia) Wolf? Feminist Literary Views Here and Now]](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/113110921/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](Hungarian Cultural Studies, 2012
This book is an important landmark of Nóra Séllei's professional career. For several years Nóra S... more This book is an important landmark of Nóra Séllei's professional career. For several years Nóra Séllei has been progressing straight ahead on the path that she mapped out for herself as a feminist scholar, and her enterprise is indeed worthy of respect. She explored the possibilities offered by feminist literary criticism, writing three monographs (Katherine
Life Writing, Apr 9, 2018
This article analyses biographical memoirs written about Attila József by three women, Judit Szán... more This article analyses biographical memoirs written about Attila József by three women, Judit Szántó, Márta Vágó, and Flóra Kozmutza, each also a lover of the poet at some point in their lives. These works have hitherto been primarily used only as source material for research on Attila József. This article provides close readings of these biographies for the first time, highlighting their main themes and looking at them in light of the notion of mirror autobiography within the framework of women's writing. Developing the key concept of the 'motherly word' (the phrase taken from Attila József's poem 'I Might Disappear Suddenly'), the essay focuses on how the authors work through their trauma and loss by creating mother-images of themselves in their texts, referring, on the one hand, to the mother-child relationship that all three memoirs stage retrospectively in the narratives, and, on the other hand, to the mirror-effect in the speech of the mother. The article draws here on Winnicott's theory of the mirroring mother and on the developmental psychology of Stern. Touching upon the widely analysed issue of the childhood trauma of Attila József, the article offers new insights for psychoanalytically oriented Attila József-criticism.
De-Commemoration: Removing Statues and Renaming Places, 2023
The push to bring down monuments tied to colonialism and slavery in the summer of 2020 highlights... more The push to bring down monuments tied to colonialism and slavery in the summer of 2020 highlights the complex interplay between memory and power relations in the public space. While far from being the first instance of radical reassessment of the role of troubled memories in the public space, the massive scale of this process and its extensive media coverage resulted in an unprecedented transnational debate about the interpretations of the past and the monuments that reinforce these interpretations. However, this debate has mostly remained within the conceptual binary of removing versus maintaining certain monuments. Neither the question of what (if anything) should replace the empty pedestals nor alternative solutions have as yet been discussed extensively.
Millions of people have been affected by wars and violent conflicts in twentieth century Europe. ... more Millions of people have been affected by wars and violent conflicts in twentieth century Europe. Individuals, communities and countries live with the memories of these troubled pasts and the emotions that come with it. In some cases there is an accumulation of troubled pasts: for example, the countries that were part of the former Republic of Yugoslavia experienced two World Wars, the communist authoritarian regime and the Balkan wars in the span of one century. How are troubled pasts used to deepen perceived divisions and legitimize radicalization or inclusion? What psychological processes can contribute to mutual understanding, resilience and the acknowledgement of troubled pasts? These questions have become more urgent in the present political climate. This symposium presents a multidisciplinary perspective on the way European societies deal with troubled pasts. The presentations are followed by a discussion
Studia Litteraria, 2011
Literary texts that deal with traumatic experience develop a specific language: the language in w... more Literary texts that deal with traumatic experience develop a specific language: the language in which trauma is recitable, thus it can be dissolved. Trauma texts are often read as testimonies, narrative recoveries. The aspects of trauma theories may help the investigation of several literary texts from the end of the 20th century and from the first years of the 21st century, as trauma fiction may seem detached, emotionless or disturbingly explicit to readers for the first time. Reading trauma fiction demands an open state of mind and stronger fortitude than a usual literary text, as the trauma can be experienced in reading to some extent. In my paper I demonstrate strategies of interpretation based on trauma theory, through the analysis of Gabriella Nagy’s text, Eset.
S: I. M. O. N. SHOAH: INTERVENTION. METHODS. DOCUMENTATION., 2023
In this article, I analyse the short stories of Ida Fink, a Polish writer and Holocaust survivor.... more In this article, I analyse the short stories of Ida Fink, a Polish writer and Holocaust survivor. I focus on how she writes about traumatic memories, showing the perspectives of the vic- tims and survivors, as well as listeners, witnesses, and bystanders. Relatively little has been written about Ida Fink’s works apart from in Polish literary studies, and even less from a trauma studies perspective. This article aims to fill this gap. I show, through psychologi- cally oriented close readings of several short stories, how Ida Fink presents various trauma dynamics and trauma moments, as well as denial, indifference, and the inability to listen to the trauma of others. Some protagonists attempt to process and integrate their traumatic experiences through sharing and storytelling, but they are constantly rejected by those around them. Observers and bystanders often see the traumatised as “the other”, and they do not acknowledge their painful memories. Other stories show how changes in social norms brought about by war contributed to the ruptures of societal networks and the shat- tering of social norms, leading, through silencing trauma, to the formation of collective traumatisation, in which the social environment, despite the best individual intentions, invalidates and trivialises the traumatised person’s experience. On the other hand, at an- other level, for the reader, the stories can become an experience of working through collec- tive historical trauma.
Studia litteraria, Jul 1, 2011
Environment, space, place, 2016
The visual images, textual expressions, and rhetorical figures related to the image of the wounde... more The visual images, textual expressions, and rhetorical figures related to the image of the wounded, mutilated, and maimed country have become the cultural legacy of the Treaty of Trianon in Hungary, shaping collective identity. These representations have been influential in cultural memory throughout the 20th century until today in preventing Hungarian society from processing the collective trauma of Trianon. This process is linked to the present through many threads, among them the “Day of National Unity”, commemorating the signing of the Treaty of Trianon, introduced by the Hungarian government in 2010. As the well-known images of wounds and violent rhetoric have become available in the new media, commemoration practices applied in schools may transmit the unresolved historical trauma yet again to younger generations.
Palgrave Studies in Life Writing, 2020
Menyhért’s chapter looks at the transnational element in life stories and canonisation processes ... more Menyhért’s chapter looks at the transnational element in life stories and canonisation processes in connection with the transnational digital ‘afterlife’ of a writer. The chapter describes the case of Hungarian writer Renée Erdős (1879–1956). Menyhért wrote a bestselling fictional biography entitled A Free Woman (2016) about Erdős’s fascinating life. The fictional biography served as a starting point for an online trans-border network of researchers, family members of Erdős, other writers, translators and readers in several countries. The chapter enquires into what impact a transnational afterlife has on the canonisation of a woman writer marginalised in the national context: how the emergence of new, digital, trans-border, easily accessible communication channels can free institutionalised nation-based canon-forming structures and make life writing partly a participatory network activity.
In recent years, more and more social media (Facebook) groups have been created dealing with memo... more In recent years, more and more social media (Facebook) groups have been created dealing with memories of the Holocaust in Hungary. In this article, I analyze and compare two groups, ' " The Holocaust and My Family " and " The Descendants of the Victims and Survivors of the Holocaust " in the framework of my research project on the concept of digital trauma processing, entitled " Trauma Studies in the Digital Age: The Impact of Social Media on Trauma Processing in Life Narratives and Trauma Literature: the Case of Hungary. " I show how the concept of trauma and trauma processing itself are changing in the digital age as a consequence of the element of sharing (in posts and comments in digital media) gains more importance and thus counteracts the element of silence, which was considered the most important element of trauma on several levels. How does digital sharing of memories of traumas help unblock previously blocked avenues to the past, and how does it contribute to the processing of collective historical traumas and consequently to the mobilization of memories, modernization, and the transformation of identities. I examine how the given characteristics of the different types of Facebook groups, public or closed, influence the ways in which people communicate about a collective historical trauma. I touch upon the issue of research ethics in connection with the handling of sensitive data in social media research. I examine the book The Holocaust and My Family, a collection of posts from the group, and analyze as a case study a post and the related comments, in which a descendant of a perpetrator comes out in the group.
Hungarian studies review, Oct 1, 2017
And exactly this, the aporia, must be maintained in memory. Metaphorically speaking, every step l... more And exactly this, the aporia, must be maintained in memory. Metaphorically speaking, every step leads to the door of the gas-chamber, but no step leads inside." Reinhart Koselleck 1 "And they do not stop explaining things, to acknowledge their meaning even when they are closed in ghettos, herded together and deported." Randolph L. Braham 2
Hungarian Cultural Studies, 2012
This book is an important landmark of Nóra Séllei's professional career. For several years Nóra S... more This book is an important landmark of Nóra Séllei's professional career. For several years Nóra Séllei has been progressing straight ahead on the path that she mapped out for herself as a feminist scholar, and her enterprise is indeed worthy of respect. She explored the possibilities offered by feminist literary criticism, writing three monographs (Katherine
Life Writing, Apr 9, 2018
This article analyses biographical memoirs written about Attila József by three women, Judit Szán... more This article analyses biographical memoirs written about Attila József by three women, Judit Szántó, Márta Vágó, and Flóra Kozmutza, each also a lover of the poet at some point in their lives. These works have hitherto been primarily used only as source material for research on Attila József. This article provides close readings of these biographies for the first time, highlighting their main themes and looking at them in light of the notion of mirror autobiography within the framework of women's writing. Developing the key concept of the 'motherly word' (the phrase taken from Attila József's poem 'I Might Disappear Suddenly'), the essay focuses on how the authors work through their trauma and loss by creating mother-images of themselves in their texts, referring, on the one hand, to the mother-child relationship that all three memoirs stage retrospectively in the narratives, and, on the other hand, to the mirror-effect in the speech of the mother. The article draws here on Winnicott's theory of the mirroring mother and on the developmental psychology of Stern. Touching upon the widely analysed issue of the childhood trauma of Attila József, the article offers new insights for psychoanalytically oriented Attila József-criticism.
De-Commemoration: Removing Statues and Renaming Places, 2023
The push to bring down monuments tied to colonialism and slavery in the summer of 2020 highlights... more The push to bring down monuments tied to colonialism and slavery in the summer of 2020 highlights the complex interplay between memory and power relations in the public space. While far from being the first instance of radical reassessment of the role of troubled memories in the public space, the massive scale of this process and its extensive media coverage resulted in an unprecedented transnational debate about the interpretations of the past and the monuments that reinforce these interpretations. However, this debate has mostly remained within the conceptual binary of removing versus maintaining certain monuments. Neither the question of what (if anything) should replace the empty pedestals nor alternative solutions have as yet been discussed extensively.
Millions of people have been affected by wars and violent conflicts in twentieth century Europe. ... more Millions of people have been affected by wars and violent conflicts in twentieth century Europe. Individuals, communities and countries live with the memories of these troubled pasts and the emotions that come with it. In some cases there is an accumulation of troubled pasts: for example, the countries that were part of the former Republic of Yugoslavia experienced two World Wars, the communist authoritarian regime and the Balkan wars in the span of one century. How are troubled pasts used to deepen perceived divisions and legitimize radicalization or inclusion? What psychological processes can contribute to mutual understanding, resilience and the acknowledgement of troubled pasts? These questions have become more urgent in the present political climate. This symposium presents a multidisciplinary perspective on the way European societies deal with troubled pasts. The presentations are followed by a discussion
Studia Litteraria, 2011
Literary texts that deal with traumatic experience develop a specific language: the language in w... more Literary texts that deal with traumatic experience develop a specific language: the language in which trauma is recitable, thus it can be dissolved. Trauma texts are often read as testimonies, narrative recoveries. The aspects of trauma theories may help the investigation of several literary texts from the end of the 20th century and from the first years of the 21st century, as trauma fiction may seem detached, emotionless or disturbingly explicit to readers for the first time. Reading trauma fiction demands an open state of mind and stronger fortitude than a usual literary text, as the trauma can be experienced in reading to some extent. In my paper I demonstrate strategies of interpretation based on trauma theory, through the analysis of Gabriella Nagy’s text, Eset.
The Winter School “How to Document the Present: Oral History and Memory of the War” brings togeth... more The Winter School “How to Document the Present: Oral History and Memory of the War” brings together a cohort of esteemed scholars specialising in research dealing with the complex interrelations between memory, violence, and war. A unique transdisciplinary environment will provide students with possibilities to learn different conceptual stances on memory and war, but also to get familiar with a broad range of methodological approaches to study them, ranging from classic qualitative approaches (e.g., close reading or content analysis) to novel computational approaches (e.g., topic modelling and algorithm audit).
Since the 2000s, social media networks have introduced major changes in the way people are regula... more Since the 2000s, social media networks have introduced major changes in the way people are regularly exposed to content related to the traumatic experiences of others (wars, catastrophes, individual disasters, violence, and rape). Social media provides information even in cases which mainstream (state-run) media do not cover. Exposure to traumatic content may have an unsettling effect on users, but social media is also used for processing trauma. This project investigates the representation, transmission, and processing of trauma-individual as well as collective, historical, and intergenerational-in the digital environment. The project focusses on how each digital media platform shapes trauma-related communication according to their affordances. It draws on case studies linked to different social media platforms including Facebook groups related to the Holocaust; transnational migratory trauma in Hungarian migrants' blogs; contemporary implications of the Treaty of Trianon as transmitted via YouTube; the resilience of gender-based trauma victims in connection with the #MeToo campaign on Twitter; and a comparative analysis of bystander behaviour during the Holocaust and in a digital context, including the study of cyberbullying on Facebook and Instagram. This talk will discuss some examples of these case studies and will highlight the main theoretical pillars they draw on in order to draw tentative conclusions on how digital tools could help develop empathic approaches to the trauma of others.
Chaja Polak, Arnoud Arps, Lisette Bijker and Anna Menyhért will discuss issues related to trauma ... more Chaja Polak, Arnoud Arps, Lisette Bijker and Anna Menyhért will discuss issues related to trauma processing: historical trauma and its long-term impact, current trends and methods in trauma treatment, and the relation of trauma to colonization and the memories of violence.
Audio recording: http://www.crassh.cam.ac.uk/events/25969 Places of Amnesia 21 January 2015 CRAS... more Audio recording: http://www.crassh.cam.ac.uk/events/25969
Places of Amnesia
21 January 2015
CRASSH, Seminar room SG2, Alison Richard Building
University of Cambridge
In Women’s Literary Tradition and Twentieth-Century Hungarian Writers, Anna Menyhért presents the... more In Women’s Literary Tradition and Twentieth-Century Hungarian Writers, Anna Menyhért presents the cases of five women writers whose legacy literary criticism has neglected or distorted, thereby depriving succeeding generations of vital cultural memory and inspiration. A best-selling novelist and poet in her time, Renée Erdős wrote innovatively about women's experience of sexual love. Minka Czóbel wrote modern trauma texts only to pass into literary history branded, as a result of ideological pressure in communist times, as an 'ugly woman'. Ágnes Nemes Nagy, celebrated for her ‘masculine’ poems, felt she must suppress her ‘feminine’ poems. Famous writer’s widow Ilona Harmos Kosztolányi’s autobiographical writing tackles the physical challenges of girls' adolescence, and offers us a woman’s thoughtful Holocaust memoir. Anna Lesznai, émigrée and visual artist, wove together memory and fiction using techniques from patchworking and embroidery.
Ez a kötet a Trauma és Gender az Irodalomban és a Kultúrában Kutatócsoport által 2012 májusában a... more Ez a kötet a Trauma és Gender az Irodalomban és a Kultúrában Kutatócsoport által 2012 májusában az Eötvös Loránd Tudományegyetemen „Trauma, Gender, Irodalom” címmel MA és PhD hallgatók számára rendezett konferencián elhangzott előadások szerkesztett anyagát tartalmazza.
A konferencia célkitűzése egyrészt az volt, hogy bemutatkozási lehetőséget biztosítson olyan diákok és fiatal tudósok számára, akiket érdekel egy olyan komplex, interdiszciplináris irodalom-, és kultúratudományi nézőpont, mely a trauma- és genderkutatás eddigi eredményeit mozgósítva képes felismerni a társadalmi nemi szerepek vizsgálatának jelentőségét a traumatikus tapasztalatok értelmezésében, másrészt pedig az, hogy felhívja a figyelmet arra, hogy ez a megközelítési mód egyes szépirodalmi művek kapcsán immár megkerülhetetlen elemzési szempont.
Budapest, Anonymus–Ráció, 2008.