From Genocide to Genesis: Psychoanalytic Exploration of Evil in Martin Amis' Time's Arrow: Or the Nature of the Offence

Abstract

This thesis explores how Nazi perpetrators, notably doctors, committed heinous crimes during the Holocaust, delving into their psychological transformation. Faced with this self-inflicted crisis, perpetrators undergo a profound shift, splitting their personalities between committing atrocities and wearing a facade of humanity. Using literary texts, this thesis aims to understand this dual nature, shedding light on the psychological processes behind their actions. Martin Amis' novel, Time's Arrow, employs a unique narrative technique, recounting the life of a Nazi doctor in reverse chronology, from death to birth. This technique unravels a history of evil, deconstructs the evil self, reinterprets historical events, and exposes the protagonist's relentless attempts to distance from his heinous deeds. This study focuses on the transformation of the Nazi doctors, the lingering effects of perpetration on them, and especially how the technique of reverse narration portrays and, in a way, decodes the Holocaust. With this study, I aim to shed light on the paradoxical nature of the offense and the complex psyche of the Nazi perpetrator, portrayed in Martin Amis' Time's Arrow, through a psychoanalytic approach and nuanced analysis of the novel. By utilizing Robert Jay Lifton's socio-historical context from Nazi Doctors, along with the key concepts provided by Sigmund Freud, Jacques Lacan, and Julia Kristeva, this study examines the concepts of doubling, defamiliarization, psychic numbing, abjection, maternal womb, and female presence and life and death instinct to offer insight into the disturbing nature of the perpetrator's response to the Holocaust crisis and his lack of moral responsibility.