Class Detail

Reading and analysis of fiction and poetry, focusing on Holocaust literature as a problem in critical theory, cultural studies, and literary history. Though most of the works are read in translation, some knowledge of European languages is helpful. Critical approach designations: Histories, Power and Subjectivities. May be repeated for credit.

Literature and the Holocaust that can be added to the class notes section: This course explores creative responses to the destruction of European Jewry, generally referred to as `Holocaust?. It focuses on two major questions: first, what is left--from philosophical, existential, and religious perspectives--for language and imagination after the experience of humanity?s complete annihilation that was systematically pursued in the concentration camps of Nazi-occupied Europe, in which six million Jews were murdered; second, it investigates how categories of ethnicity and race were constructed and exploited through systemic racism in the construction of modern nationalisms and fascist regimes. We will also observe how the traumatic experience of persecution prompted original philosophical, religious, and even `mystical? thinking. Our focus will be on literature - both poetry and prose - and films that either provide historical and autobiographical accounts of the Holocaust or recount fictional stories inspired by this event. We will discuss primary sources from a wide variety of genres, including memorial books, poetry, fictional novels, a diary, essays, studies, a graphic novel, and films, by authors from Italy, Romania, France, the Netherlands, Germany, and the United States. In addition, we will be reading secondary sources that will help us assess the historical events and the critical questions that are at the center of Holocaust literature.

Days & Times	Room	Instructor	Meeting Dates
MW 09:00AM-12:30PM	J Baskin Engr 169	Gianferrari,F.	06/26/23 - 07/28/23