The Generation of Postmemory

By Marianne Hirsch,

Book cover of The Generation of Postmemory: Writing and Visual Culture After the Holocaust

Book description

Can we remember other people's memories? The Generation of Postmemory argues we can: that memories of traumatic events live on to mark the lives of those who were not there to experience them. Children of survivors and their contemporaries inherit catastrophic histories not through direct recollection but through haunting postmemories--multiply…

Shepherd is reader supported. When you buy books, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Why read it?

1 author picked The Generation of Postmemory as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Marianne Hirsch is justly famous for proposing the term “postmemory” to designate how the past may be remembered by those who have no personal memories of it. Memories are transmitted in families (familial postmemory), but claiming a memory can also be a matter of choice through an act of affiliation (affiliative postmemory). Hirsch is especially insightful on the role of photographs and objects in the creation of postmemories.  

Want books like The Generation of Postmemory?

Our community of 11,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like The Generation of Postmemory.

Browse books like The Generation of Postmemory

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in Holocaust survivors, the Holocaust, and gender identity?

The Holocaust 410 books
Gender Identity 81 books