Not from My Lips
Not from My Lips
From Annihilation to Nation Building
Male confessants do not easily utter the words “I love” to their intimate others, and, indeed, display a fundamental hesitation toward intimate female companions. In this case, confessions become a device of self-distancing, imprisoning the male self in a circular path of self-centeredness and preventing him from self-touching as well as being touched by others. An example of such a text is Oswald Pohl's Credo: Mein Weg zu Gott (Credo: My Path to God), in which he is not only out of touch with his culpability but also not in touch with intimate others. This chapter examines annihilation and rehabilitation as well as homosociality, remasculinization, and nation building in the confessions of Pohl and Calel Perechodnik. What Pohl and Perechodnik share in common with St. Augustine, Michel Leiris, and other male confessants is that the women on their side are variously muted, disavowed, neglected, fictionalized, and rendered invisible.
Keywords: confessions, women, Oswald Pohl, Credo, Calel Perechodnik, annihilation, rehabilitation, homosociality, remasculinization, nation building
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