How to Teach the Unimaginable: Slavenka Drakulić’s War Novel As if I Am Not There and Literature Teaching

Abstract

The updated Slovenian high school Reader Branja 3 brings Slavenka Drakulić’s As If I Am Not There (Kao da me nema, 1999) into the high school literature classroom, a war novel that depicts unimaginable crimes against humanity, rape, national and religious hatred, and the indelible consequences of war. Addressing the trauma of violence and abuse is undoubtedly a pedagogical challenge, which is why it is particularly important to contextualize the novel appropriately in sociopolitical and historical terms and to convey the emotionally challenging subject matter, which is also fraught with immediate temporal and geographical proximity, in an appropriately sensitive manner. I explore the possibilities of using the reading of a trauma narrative to pursue the broader goals of teaching literature, namely, teaching ethics through literature, and highlight key issues in discussing such texts in the classroom. In addition to the two excerpts presented in the Reader, I analyze the accompanying didactic content (explanations, questions, information about the author) that guides students’ interpretation of the novel.