Holocaust Literature: A Survey

This lecture for undergraduates is a survey of the literature of the Holocaust, ranging from its origins in Europe during the war to the widespread and global legacy among second and third generation writers, Jewish and non-Jewish alike, until the present day. Though the course will be taught in translation, readings will be taken from Yiddish, Hebrew, English, Polish, German, French, Dutch, and Hungarian literature. Among the thematic topics to be covered: the ethics of witnessing; the limits of representation and other formal aspects; historicity and autobiography; trauma and the second generation writer; the Holocaust in other media.