A Family Occupation : Children of the War and the Memory of World War II in Dutch Literature of the 1980s

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Many of today's Dutch writers were children during World War II. Even today, the traumatic childhood experience of enemy occupation is still central to the work of many of them. This interest cuts across the traditional boundaries between fiction, autobiography and the literature of trauma and recovery. A Family Occupation is the first English-language introduction to Dutch-language texts written by and about the 'Children of the War' and their cultural context. Their themes and literary conventions throw an interesting light on the Dutch approach to issues such as guilt and innocence, memory and narrative, national identity, child abuse and victimhood.

Veel hedendaagse Nederlandse schrijvers waren kind tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog. De traumatische ervaring van de vijandelijke bezetting staat centraal in het werk van velen van hen. Deze erfenis snijdt dwars door de traditionele grenzen tussen fictie, autobiografie en de literatuur van trauma en herstel. A Family Occupation is de eerste Engelstalige inleiding tot de Nederlandstalige teksten geschreven door en over de 'Kinderen van de Oorlog' en hun culturele context. Hun thema's en literaire conventies werpen een interessant licht op de Nederlandse benadering van kwesties als schuld en onschuld, geheugen en narratieve, nationale identiteit, kindermishandeling en slachtofferschap.

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