Austerlitz and his author

Evacuation and exile

Abstract

This article explores the interrelated themes of broken attachment, childhood trauma and the nature of memory, particularly associated with the evacuation of children from Europe, and within Britain at the start of the Second World War. The paper is based upon the life and works of the German author W. G. Sebald and, specifically, his novel Austerlitz, and, to a lesser extent, some of the author’s experience as a result of evacuation from London in 1940. The article also makes reference to recent work on the neurobiology of traumatic memory.

Ka tūhuria e te tuhinga nei ngā ariā taurite ki te motunga o ngā taura here, mate tamariki me te āhua o maumahara hāngai atu nei ki te hūnukutangahia o ngā tamariki mai i Ioripa me te rohe o Ingarangi i te tīmatanga o te Pakanga Tuarua. Ko te pūtaketanga o te tuhinga ko te koiora me ngā mahi a W. G. Sebald; he kaituhi Tiamana, whāia rawahia ko tana pukapuka Austerlitz, ā, itiiti nei te pānga ki ētahi o ana wheako ara ake i te wehenga mai i Rānana i te tau 1940. Ka tohu anō hoki te tuhinga ki te mahi onamata whakapā atu ki te mātauranga io koiora o te mate maumahara.