Elaine Feinstein, The Border

Gina Wisker (University of Brighton)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.09: English Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary Britain , 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Kerry Myler (Newman University), Jenni Ramone (The Nottingham Trent University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1984

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

Elaine Feinstein’s The Border (1984), is a tale of painful wartime memories. It opens in Australia in the 1980s, with the grandson, Saul, an Oxford historian, questioning his grandmother about her memories of Europe before and during the Second World War. The experiences she narrates are delicate, precise, redolent with atmosphere: “she had enclosed herself in a piece of Central Europe, as if she had conjured the walnut chest, inlaid tables, and curving velvet button-back chairs into place” (p.11). Through questioning, the grandson enables the grandmother to recall everyday memories and crucial historical moments and figures. Walter Benjamin crossed her path attempting to reach safety and died at the border. The exact …

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1103 words

Citation: Wisker, Gina. "The Border". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 17 January 2001 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=1403, accessed 27 November 2024.]

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