Between witness and testimony : the Holocaust and the limits of representation / Michael Bernard-Donals, Richard Glejzer.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bernard-Donals, Michael F.

Contributor:

Glejzer, Richard R.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Personal narratives--History and criticism.

Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945).

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

Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Psychological aspects.

Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945), in literature.

Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945), in motion pictures.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (210 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Albany : State University of New York Press, c2001.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The Holocaust presents an immense challenge to those who would represent it or teach it through fiction, film, or historical accounts. Even the testimonies of those who were there provide only a glimpse of the disaster to those who were not. Between Witness and Testimony investigates the difficulties inherent in the obligation to bear witness to events that seem not just unspeakable but also unthinkable. The authors examine films, fictional narratives, survivor testimonies, and the museums at Yad Vashem and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in order to establish an ethics of Holocaust representation. Traversing the disciplines of history, philosophy, religious studies, and literary and cultural theory, the authors suggest that while no account adequately provides access to what Adorno called "the extremity that eludes the concept," we are still obliged to testify, to put into language what history cannot contain.

Contents:

Front Matter

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

Sublimity, Redemption, Witness

History and the Disaster: The (Im)possibility of Writing the Shoah

The Epistemology of Witness: Survivor Narratives and the Holocaust

Literatures of Presence and Absence: Borowski, Appelfeld, Ozick

Film and the Shoah: The Limits of Seeing

Museums and the Imperative of Memory: History, Sublimity, and the Divine

Conclusion: The Ethics of Teaching (after) Auschwitz

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Includes index.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 175-181) and index.

ISBN:

9780791489673

0791489671

OCLC:

794701277