German Literature, Critical Thought, and New Media since 1945 (404-0-1)

Topic

Holocaust Writing

Instructors

Anna Parkinson
847/467-5173
1880 Campus Drive, Kresge Hall, Rm 3321, Evanston
Office Hours: By appointment

Meeting Info

Kresge 3354 German Seminar Rm.: Mon 1:00PM - 3:50PM

Overview of class

Described as a fundamental "break in civilization" (Dan Diner) or a caesura in Enlightenment humanism, the term "Holocaust" now designates the systematic persecution and murder of over two-thirds of the Jewish population of European by the Nazi regime and its collaborators. More than half a century later, a vast body of fiction and non-fiction writing has been dedicated to recording, imagining, extrapolating from, and attempting to comprehend these catastrophic events. It has been argued that the Holocaust cannot be represented (aesthetic limitations), that it should not be represented (Bilderverbot/ban on graven images), and that it must be born witness to and never forgotten (ethical imperatives). So, what exactly is Holocaust writing? This course seeks to answer this question through the analysis of canonical and lesser-known variants of autobiographical as well as fiction writing about and by Holocaust survivors. We will explore genres, styles, and tropes associated with Holocaust examining the use of irony, satire, and hyperbole (Hans Keilson, Hannah Arendt), as well as the grotesque in fiction (Edgar Hilsenrath), through to the essay form (Jean Améry, Primo Levi); up to the event's ongoing impact in the field of continental philosophy (Jacques Derrida, Giorgio Agamben). Other topics that may be addressed include the question of authenticity and identity (the Binjamin Wilkomirski affair, Benjamin Stein); the "era of the witness" and the status of testimony (Shoshana Felman, Dori Laub, Annette Wieviorka); metatestimony (Ruth Klüger) and postmemory (Marianne Hirsch); and, finally, what might be called Holocaust writing of the second degree (W.G. Sebald).

Registration Requirements

Graduate course and for advanced undergraduate students

Learning Objectives

• Evaluation and critique of a body of primarily Western European canonical literature and critical theoretical approaches to the Holocaust.
• Examination of the Holocaust both as historical event and as an ethical rupture as it relates to questions of proper and improper forms of representation, West European humanist, existentialist postwar, as well as postmodern philosophical approaches.
• Exploration of the relationship between fact and fiction, ethics and fantasy, in fiction/literature, theoretical, autobiographical, and autofictional accounts.
• Interpretation of the significance of the essay form in Holocaust writing.
• Articulation of significant rhetorical forms and tropes particular to well-known Holocaust literature in contrast with lesser-known, non-canonical literature that deploys irony, satire, and the grotesque in startling and incisive ways.
• Formulation of an abstract, collation of a bibliography, presentation of planned research paper, discussion of ideas with peers, and the production of an independent research paper on a subject of the student's choice.