The culture of forgetting

the long version

Robert Manne’s The Culture of Forgetting (1996) examines the scandal surrounding Helen Darville, who wrote as Helen Demidenko. Her award‑winning novel The Hand That Signed the Paper was later revealed to rest on a fabricated Ukrainian identity and controversial portrayals of the Holocaust. Manne’s critique explores the ethical responsibilities of writers, the dangers of literary deception, and the cultural impact of the affair on Australian memory and Holocaust representation.