Between Acceptance and Betrayal: Sarah Kofman’s Rue Ordener, rue Labat

Nelly Furman’s essay is a treatment of Sarah Kofman’s work, particularly Rue Ordener, rue Labat (1994), Kofman’s autobiographical telling of her experience as a young girl, torn between her French and Jewish identities during the Second World War. Furman explores the complexity of French-Jewish identity in Kofman’s work as expressed above all through specific testimonial and linguistic constructions, but also through food and education. Furman furthermore investigates how Kofman’s case serves as a reminder of ‘an impossible double bind’: the desire to bear witness for those who died, and the impossibility of telling their stories.