ENG 378 - Holocaust Literature

Course unit(s): 1
Meets GAR: Meets general academic requirements HU and DE.
Approximately twenty years after the Holocaust, literature by survivors began appearing in multitudes. Today, there are countless texts on the genocide, including memoirs, fiction, and poetry by survivors and by authors unaffiliated with the Holocaust. Almost every genre and category of authors has come under intense scrutiny, leading to questions such as: Can the violence of the Holocaust – and genocidal, racialized violence more broadly – be represented? If so, who can represent it? What is the relationship between trauma and memory? What about the relationship between literature and trauma? Does literature possess unique capabilities for producing empathy? What are the ethical questions involved in interviewing Holocaust and genocide survivors to produce literature? How does one write about collective trauma? In this course, we will examine these questions and others as we study a range of Holocaust memoirs and fiction about the Holocaust and put these primary texts in conversation with theories of Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Comparative Genocide Studies, Gender and Sexuality Studies, and Comparative Race and Ethnicity Studies. Throughout the semester, we will also watch and read interviews with Holocaust survivors, including some of our authors. Additionally, we will consider the relationship between race and memorialization; the under-examined role of sexual assault in the Holocaust; the under-discussed murders of the Roma, Black, disabled, and queer communities in the Holocaust; the relationship between the Holocaust, other genocides, and other forms of racialized violence; and the urgent importance of Holocaust literature in our current moment. Satisfies departmental Social Justice/BIPOC and Prose requirements.