Catastrophe and meaning : the Holocaust and the twentieth century / edited by Moishe Postone and Eric Santner.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Postone, Moishe.

Santner, Eric L., 1955-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Influence.

Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945).

Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Historiography.

Historiography.

Memory.

Physical Description:

274 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 2003.

Summary:

How should we understand the relation of the Holocaust to the broader historical processes of the century just ended? How do we explain the bearing of the Holocaust on problems of representation, memory, memorialization, and historical practice? These are some of the questions explored by an esteemed group of scholars in Catastrophe and Meaning, the most significant multiauthored book on the Holocaust in over a decade. This collection features essays that consider the role of anti-Semitism in the recounting of the Holocaust; the place of the catastrophe in the narrative of twentieth-century history; the questions of agency and victimhood that the Holocaust inspires; the afterlife of trauma in literature written about the tragedy; and the gaps in remembrance and comprehension that normal historical works fail to notice.

Contents:

Introduction: Catastrophe and Meaning / Moishe Postone, Eric Santner 1

Part 1 History, Anti-Semitism, and the Holocaust

1 Ideology and Extermination: The Immediate Origins of the "Final Solution" / Saul Friedlander 17

2 Anti-Semitism as Explanation: For and Against / Shulamit Volkov 34

Part 2 The Holocaust and the Twentieth Century

3 "The Abyss that opened up before us": Thinking about Auschwitz and Modernity / Anson Rabinbach 51

4 The Destruction of Narrativity: The Holocaust in Historical Discourse / Dan Diner 67

5 The Holocaust and Trajectory of the Twentieth Century / Moishe Postone 81

Part 3 Annihilation, Victimhood, Identity

6 "Fields of Glory": War, Genocide, and the Glorification of Violence / Omer Bartov 117

7 Stalingrad, Hiroshima, Auschwitz: The Fading of the Therapeutic Approach / Frank Trommler 136

8 Agents, Contexts, Responsibilities: The Massacre at Budy / Deborah Dwork 154

Part 4 Trauma and the Limits of Representation

9 New Soundings in Holocaust Literature: A Surplus of Memory / Froma Zeitlin 173

10 Holocaust Testimonics: Attending to the Victim's Voice / Dominick LaCapra 209

11 Holocaust and Hope / Geoffrey Hartman 232

12 Lament's Hope / Paul Mendes-Flohr 250.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0226676102

0226676110

OCLC:

51583331