Jewish History

Holocaust Literature: A History and Guide

Name: Holocaust Literature: A History and Guide
Author: David G. Roskies
ISBN: 9781611683578

by David G. Roskies, Naomi Diamant

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Overview

What is Holocaust literature? When does it begin and how is it changing? Is there an essential core that consists of diaries, eyewitness accounts of the concentration camps, and tales of individual survival? Is it the same everywhere: West and East, in Australia as in the Americas, in poetry as in prose? Is this literature sacred and separate, or can it be studied alongside other responses to catastrophe? What works of Holocaust literature will be read a hundred years from now--and why?

Here, for the first time, is a historical survey of Holocaust literature in all genres, countries, and major languages. Beginning in wartime, it proceeds from the literature of mobilization and mourning in the Free World to the vast literature produced in Nazi-occupied ghettos, bunkers and places of hiding, transit and concentration camps. No less remarkable is the new memorial literature that begins to take shape within weeks and months of the liberation. Moving from Europe to Israel, the United States, and beyond, the authors situate the writings by real and proxy witnesses within three distinct postwar periods: "communal memory," still internal and internecine; "provisional memory" in the 1960s and 1970s, when a self-conscious Holocaust genre is born; and "authorized memory," in which we live today.

Twenty book covers--first editions in their original languages--and a guide to the "first hundred books" show the multilingual scope, historical depth, and artistic range of this extraordinary body of writing.

Synopsis

"What is Holocaust literature? When does it begin and how is it changing? Is there an essential core of diaries, eyewitness accounts of the concentration camps, tales of individual survival in hiding? Is it the same everywhere: in the West as in the East, in Australia as in the Americas, in poetry as in prose? Is this literature sacred and sui generis, or can it be studied in the light of other literatures? What of the perpetrators and bystanders, the hidden children, the children of Holocaust survivors: Do they speak with the same authority? What works of Holocaust literature will be read a hundred years from now--and why? Here, for the first time and told from beginning to end, is an historical survey of Holocaust literature in all genres, countries, and major languages. Beginning in wartime, it proceeds from the literature of mobilization and mourning in the Free World to the vast and varied literature produced in the Nazi-occupied ghettos, the bunkers and places of hiding, the transit and concentrations camps. Within weeks of the liberation, in displaced persons camps, a new memorial and testamentary literature begins to take shape. Moving from Europe to Israel, the U.S., and beyond, the authors situate the writings by real and proxy witnesses within three distinct postwar periods: a period of "communal memory, " still internal and internecine; a period of "provisional memory" in the '60s and '70s that witnesses the birth of a self-conscious Holocaust genre; to the period of "authorized memory" in which we live today, following the collapse of the Soviet Union (1989-91), and the opening of the US Holocaust Museum (1993). Twenty book covers - first editions in their original languages - and an eminently readable guide to the "first hundred books" together show the multilingual scope, historical depth, the moral and artistic range of this extraordinary body of writing."--Publisher's website.

About the Author, David G. Roskies

DAVID G. ROSKIES is the Sol and Evelyn Henkind Chair in Yiddish Literature and Culture at the Jewish Theological Seminary. He also holds a joint appointment in Yiddish literature at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Prof. Roskies was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2012 for his contributions to the field of literary criticism. NAOMI DIAMANT is director of Dean's Office Affairs, Stern School of Business, New York University.

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Editorials

From the Publisher

"What has long been needed was a guide that would be as accessible as it was comprehensive and scholarly. Now we have one, in Holocaust Literature: A History and a Guide . . . a book that offers us so much insight into how to read the literature of the Holocaust in time, and over time. Roskies and Diamant remind us of that it is not enough to preserve its memory; we must also make it available to be rediscovered by generations to come."--JewishIdeasDaily.com