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When Silence Remembers: Acoustic Postmemory in Władysław Szpilman’s The Pianist and Roman Polanski’s Cinematic Adaptation

Cilt: 25 Sayı: 4 20 Ekim 2026
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When Silence Remembers: Acoustic Postmemory in Władysław Szpilman’s The Pianist and Roman Polanski’s Cinematic Adaptation

Öz

This study argues that Władysław Szpilman's memoir The Pianist (1946) performs trauma formally rather than thematically: its narrative restraint, recurring silence, and sustained attention to listening enact what Caruth terms unclaimed experience, without narrating it directly. Roman Polanski's 2002 film adaptation extends this same formal logic into its own distinct medium, instead of departing from it. Drawing on Caruth's model of belated trauma, Hirsch's concept of postmemory, and Hutcheon's theory of adaptation, the study undertakes close, scene-by-scene readings of paired episodes across the two works, carefully tracing how each medium organises its sound and silence at structurally corresponding points. Trauma's transmission, the analysis shows, is carried through the placement and grammar of sound and silence rather than through narrative content alone, a process that this article terms acoustic postmemory. The film withholds the very same things that the memoir withholds, at corresponding structural points, using medium-specific rather than purely narrative means, a relation the article terms negative fidelity. The study thereby contributes to adaptation studies by relocating the question of fidelity from narrative content to structural withholding, and it contributes to Holocaust and trauma studies by proposing that acoustic form, not only image or language, can also carry ethical and historical responsibility.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Destekleyen Kurum

Istanbul Aydın University

Etik Beyan

This study does not involve human participants, animals, or sensitive data. Therefore, ethical committee approval is not required. All sources have been properly cited and the study complies with academic integrity standards.

Kaynakça

  1. Caruth, C. (1996). Unclaimed experience: Trauma, narrative, and history. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
  2. Daughtry, M. J. (2015). Listening to war: Sound, music, trauma, and survival in wartime Iraq. New York: Oxford University Press.
  3. Diamond, D. (2009). Passion for survival in Polanski’s The Pianist. Psychoanalytic Inquiry, 27(4), 425–439. Doi: 10.1080/07351690701484493
  4. Hirsch, M. (2008). The generation of postmemory. Poetics Today, 29(1), 103–128. Doi: 10.1215/03335372-2007-019
  5. Hirsch, M. (2012). The generation of postmemory: Writing and visual culture after the Holocaust. New York: Columbia University Press.
  6. Hutcheon, L. (2006). A theory of adaptation. London: Routledge.
  7. Hyder, U. (2017). The Pianist as a testimonial narrative. International Journal for Social Studies, 3(9), 104–110. Doi: 10.26643/ijss.v3i9.6465
  8. Langer, L. L. (1991). Holocaust testimonies: The ruins of memory. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

Ayrıntılar

Birincil Dil

İngilizce

Konular

İngiliz ve İrlanda Dili, Edebiyatı ve Kültürü, Edebiyat Sosyolojisi

Bölüm

Araştırma Makalesi

Yayımlanma Tarihi

20 Ekim 2026

Gönderilme Tarihi

1 Mayıs 2026

Kabul Tarihi

20 Eylül 2026

Yayımlandığı Sayı

Yıl 2026 Cilt: 25 Sayı: 4

Kaynak Göster

APA
Al-Rubaye, D. A. N. (2026). When Silence Remembers: Acoustic Postmemory in Władysław Szpilman’s The Pianist and Roman Polanski’s Cinematic Adaptation. Gaziantep Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, 25(4), 1386-1401. https://doi.org/10.21547/jss.1941665
AMA
1.Al-Rubaye DAN. When Silence Remembers: Acoustic Postmemory in Władysław Szpilman’s The Pianist and Roman Polanski’s Cinematic Adaptation. GAUN-JSS. 2026;25(4):1386-1401. doi:10.21547/jss.1941665
Chicago
Al-Rubaye, Duhaa Abdulkadhim Neamah. 2026. “When Silence Remembers: Acoustic Postmemory in Władysław Szpilman’s The Pianist and Roman Polanski’s Cinematic Adaptation”. Gaziantep Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi 25 (4): 1386-1401. https://doi.org/10.21547/jss.1941665.
EndNote
Al-Rubaye DAN (01 Ekim 2026) When Silence Remembers: Acoustic Postmemory in Władysław Szpilman’s The Pianist and Roman Polanski’s Cinematic Adaptation. Gaziantep Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi 25 4 1386–1401.
IEEE
[1]D. A. N. Al-Rubaye, “When Silence Remembers: Acoustic Postmemory in Władysław Szpilman’s The Pianist and Roman Polanski’s Cinematic Adaptation”, GAUN-JSS, c. 25, sy 4, ss. 1386–1401, Eki. 2026, doi: 10.21547/jss.1941665.
ISNAD
Al-Rubaye, Duhaa Abdulkadhim Neamah. “When Silence Remembers: Acoustic Postmemory in Władysław Szpilman’s The Pianist and Roman Polanski’s Cinematic Adaptation”. Gaziantep Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi 25/4 (01 Ekim 2026): 1386-1401. https://doi.org/10.21547/jss.1941665.
JAMA
1.Al-Rubaye DAN. When Silence Remembers: Acoustic Postmemory in Władysław Szpilman’s The Pianist and Roman Polanski’s Cinematic Adaptation. GAUN-JSS. 2026;25:1386–1401.
MLA
Al-Rubaye, Duhaa Abdulkadhim Neamah. “When Silence Remembers: Acoustic Postmemory in Władysław Szpilman’s The Pianist and Roman Polanski’s Cinematic Adaptation”. Gaziantep Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, c. 25, sy 4, Ekim 2026, ss. 1386-01, doi:10.21547/jss.1941665.
Vancouver
1.Duhaa Abdulkadhim Neamah Al-Rubaye. When Silence Remembers: Acoustic Postmemory in Władysław Szpilman’s The Pianist and Roman Polanski’s Cinematic Adaptation. GAUN-JSS. 01 Ekim 2026;25(4):1386-401. doi:10.21547/jss.1941665