This module considers the enduring significance of the events known as the Holocaust (or Shoah) as they enter representation and continue to shape our present responses to various forms of racism and violence against the Other. It explores how the Holocaust has been represented, appropriated and reconfigured by writers, poets, playwrights, and filmmakers over the past seven decades.
We will examine the connections between history, trauma, and representation through an analysis of Holocaust testimonies, literature, plays, and film and visual media. How do novelists, poets, filmmakers, dramatists and artists depict events that shatter traditional forms of comprehension and representation? How do imagination, memory and history coalesce in works of art? What is the relationship between aesthetics and ethics, and what are the limits of representation?
The module looks at numerous examples of Holocaust literature, film, and drama, from short story and autobiographical novel, through lyric poetry, plays, and graphic novel, to documentary and Academy Award-winning productions. We will discuss the issues of testimony and witnessing, the aestheticization and commercialization of trauma and suffering, the staging of Holocaust memory, and the moral, philosophical and cultural legacy of the Holocaust.
Module content note: the content and discussion in this module will necessarily engage with antisemitism, racism, and violence every week. Please contact the module supervisor if you have any questions.