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 texture of her life in Germany and France is vividly evoked.…
1103 words
Citation: Wisker, Gina. "The Border". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 17 January 2001 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=1403, accessed 27 November 2024.]
