Baba Yaga, Schneewittchen und Spaltkopf: Märchenhafte und fantastische Elemente als literarische Stilmittel in Julya Rabinowichs Roman Spaltkopf1

Abstract

Baba Yaga, Snow White and Splithead: Magical and fantastic elements as stylistic means in Julya Rabinowichs novel Spaltkopf
In this paper I investigate in what way the unconscious, suppressed memory of a family’s Russian-Jewish identity becomes visible in Julya Rabinowich’s first novel Spaltkopf (2008), which draws largely from her own biography. The seven- year-old girl Mischka is the narrator and main character of the book. Rabinowich portrays the difficulties Mischka faces growing up in Austria and depicts the successive
alienation from her family and her Russian background. The paper highlights the importance of memory, myths and fairy tales which negotiate questions of identity and belonging in Spaltkopf. Rabinowich refers to fairytales from Eastern
and Western mythologies but she creates as well the fictional figure of ’splithead‛, which is the dominant metaphor in the text. I show how Rabinowich uses these intertextual and fantastic elements to reflect Mischka’s family history and argue that her writing can be linked to the genre of ‘magic realism’.
Keywords / Anahtar Sözcükler: Transnational Literature, Family History, Intertextuality, Fiction, Magic Realism

Keywords

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Abstract

Baba Yaga, Snow White and Splithead: Magical and fantastic elements as stylistic means in Julya Rabinowichs novel Spaltkopf In this paper I investigate in what way the unconscious, suppressed memory of a family’s Russian-Jewish identity becomes visible in Julya Rabinowich’s first novel Spaltkopf (2008), which draws largely from her own biography. The seven- year-old girl Mischka is the narrator and main character of the book. Rabinowich portrays the difficulties Mischka faces growing up in Austria and depicts the successive alienation from her family and her Russian background. The paper highlights the importance of memory, myths and fairy tales which negotiate questions of identity and belonging in Spaltkopf. Rabinowich refers to fairytales from Eastern and Western mythologies but she creates as well the fictional figure of ’splithead‛, which is the dominant metaphor in the text. I show how Rabinowich uses these intertextual and fantastic elements to reflect Mischka’s family history and argue that her writing can be linked to the genre of ‘magic realism’.

Keywords

• Transnational Literature, Family History, Intertextuality, Fiction, Magic Realism

Baba Yaga, Schneewittchen und Spaltkopf: Märchenhafte und fantastische Elemente als literarische Stilmittel in Julya Rabinowichs Roman Spaltkopf1 ABSTRACT

Abstract