Jewish Hungarian Family Novels in Yad Vashem Studies, Volume XXXII

A Changing Genre: Jewish Hungarian Family Novels After the Holocaust

The family novel has become one of the dominant genres of contemporary Jewish Hungarian literature. This article analyzes the reasons why contemporary writers find the controversial genre of the family novel the most suitable approach to the harshly discontinuous history of Hungary and especially that of Hungarian Jews. It also assesses the crucial role that the awareness of the Holocaust plays in this striking literary phenomenon. The article examines how current artists rejuvenated the genre of the family novel—which had already been considered outdated half a century earlier by leading literary figures—by incorporating non-narrative or less narrativized discourses, such as genealogical thinking, into their works.