HON-H 234 – Literature of the Holocaust

Among the most compelling literatures of our day is that which records and seeks to interpret the Nazi war of genocide against the Jews. This course will introduce students to this literature and encourage them to reflect upon many of the profound questions it raises. Some of these questions will focus on literature’s role in the shaping of historical memory. How the past is represented and comes to acquire a future in collective memory will be a preoccupying concern. Other questions will focus on issues of the most serious cultural, intellectual, moral, ethical, and religious kind. For instance, if it is true, as Elie Wiesel claims, that at Auschwitz not only man died but also the idea of man, how do we now conceive of the human? What does a person become when nothing is any longer forbidden him? Why did law, art, intellect, and religion not defend against political barbarism? Is idealism of any kind still possible after Auschwitz? Is forgiveness possible? These and related questions will preoccupy us over the course of the semester.

The list of required readings includes the following: Tadeusz Borowski, This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen; Jan Gross, Neighbors; Rolf Hochhuth, The Deputy; Primo Levi, Survival in Auschwitz; Primo Levi, The Drowned and the Saved; Bernard Schlink, The Reader; Elie Wiesel, Night; Simon Wiesenthal, The Sunflower.