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NE 496a – C LIT 410

LITERATURE AND THE HOLOCAUST

5 credits

Professor Naomi Sokoloff Phone: 206-543-7145 e-mail: naosok@u.washington.edu By examining fiction, poetry, memoir, diaries, monuments and aspects of popular culture, this course explores representations of the Holocaust. Among the topics to be covered: bearing witness and survivor testimony; the shaping of collective memory; the second generation; Holocaust education and children's literature; gender and the Holocaust; fantasy and humor in literary responses to catastrophe. Required Texts Lawrence Langer, ed. Art from the Ashes Anne Frank, The Diary of A Young Girl: The Definitive Edition David Grossman, See Under: Love Jane Yolen, Briar Rose Doris Bergen, War and Genocide Coursepack (RAMS Copy Center) Course Requirements Students are expected to complete the reading assignments on time, to participate in class discussion, and to hand in brief in-class writing assignments on a regular basis. There will be a mid-term and three short papers (750-1000 words each). In addition, students will complete a project. The project will include a class presentation and a 6-8 page report (1500-2000 words). Students are encouraged to work in small groups (2-3 people). This is a W course, which means that there will be not only a significant amount of writing, but also revision, editing, and reworking of essay assignments. Final grades will be determined as follows. Midterm: 15%

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Essays: 50% Project: 20% Class participation and in-class writing: 15% Students are expected to have or to acquire basic knowledge of Holocaust history. Class discussions will assume such knowledge and so the midterm also covers this background material. One way to prepare is to read Doris Bergen’s War and Genocide. *****Be sure to have this read this before week 6 of the course!! Guest speakers: in cooperation with the Washington State Holocaust Education Resource Center, Holocaust survivors and others who experienced the Holocaust personally are invited to address the class. Policies If you would like to request academic accommodations due to a disability, please contact Disabled Student Services, 448 Schmitz, 543-8914. If you have a letter from Disabled Student Services indicating you have a disability that requires academic accommodations, please present the letter to the instructor and discuss the accommodations you might need for the class. In cases of academic misconduct, such as plagiarism, the offending student will be penalized in accordance with the policy of the College of Arts and Sciences. Cell phones: Turn off all cell phones during class!! Please keep a copy of all graded work. This is very useful in case the instructor’s record of grades is lost or damaged, or in case the student wishes to discuss a grade. Protect yourself by keeping a copy. Part I: Introduction – The Shaping of Collective Memory Dan Pagis, poems. In Langer, pp. 586-591 Zelda, “Every Man Has a Name” James Young, “The Texture of Memory (1993), pp. 335-349 Suggested Reading: Alan Mintz, Popular Culture and the Shaping of Holocaust Memory in America (2001), pp. 1-35; ch. 1; Sidra Ezrahi, By Words Alone (1980), pp. 1-24; James Young, The Texture of Memory, pp. 263-281; Oren Stier, “Holocaust, American Style,” Prooftexts 22, 3 (2002): 354-393.

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Part II: Literature of the Holocaust Avraham Sutzkever “For My Child,” in Langer, p. 578 + “I Lie in This Coffin” “Painters of Terezin,” in Langer, pp. 679-692 Jankiel Wiernik, “One Year in Treblinka” in Langer, pp. 18-51 “Ghetto Folklore” in David Roskies, The Literature of Destruction, pp. 399-403 Yizhak Katzenelson, “Song of Hunger,” “Songs of the Cold” Itsik Vittenberg, “Youth Hymn” Leah Rudnitsky, “Birds are Drowsing” Anne Frank – Diary of a Young Girl, pp. 1-100 **Assignment: Essay #1 – Close reading of a poem or other text Suggested reading: David Roskies, Against the Apocalypse (1983), pp. 196-224 Part III: Literature of the Holocaust and its Reception Anne Frank – Diary of a Young Girl, pp. 100-332 Film: “The Diary of Anne Frank” (1959) Suggested Reading: The Diary of Anne Frank: The Critical Edition (1986), pp. 1-101 (introductory essays by Harry Paape, Gerrold Van Der Stroom, and David Barnouw; Anne Frank: Reflections on Her Life and Legacy, ed. Hyman A. Enzer and Sandra Solotaroff-Enzer (2000); Cynthia Ozick, “Who Owns Anne Frank?” in Quarrel and Quandary (2000), pp. 74-102.

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Part IV: Memoir and Bearing Witness Guest Speaker Film: Nava Semel’s “The Rat Laughs” Suggested reading: James Young, Writing and Re-Writing the Holocaust (1988), pp. 157-171; Shoshana Felman and Dori Laub, Testimony: Crises of Witnessing in Literature, Psychoanalysis, and History (1992). **Assignment: Essay #2 – summary of a secondary reading Part V: Fiction, Witness, Gender Aharon Appelfeld, “Tzili” in Langer, pp. 273-342 Cynthia Ozick, “The Shawl“ Suggested reading: Alan Mintz, Hurban (1984), pp. 203-238; Sara Horowitz, “Gender, Genocide, and Jewish Memory,” in Prooftexts 20 (2000): 158-90; Dalia Ofer and Lenore J. Weitzman, Women in the Holocaust (1998); Gershon Shaked, “Afterword,” in Facing the Holocaust, ed. Gila Ramras-Rauch (1985) Part VI: Surviving Generations **Midterm quiz David Grossman, See Under: Love - “Momik” Suggested reading: Dina Wardi, Memorial Candles: Children of the Holocaust (1992); Dan Bar-On, “Transgenerational Aftereffects of the Holocaust in Israel: Three Generations,” in Efraim Sicher, ed., Breaking Crystal (1998); Dominick La Capra, History and Memory after Auschwitz (1998), pp, 139-179. Part VII: Humor and the Fantastic in Holocaust Representation David Grossman, See Under: Love – “Wasserman” and “The Complete Encylcopedia of Kazik’s Life”

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Suggested reading: Gilead Morahg, “Breaking Silence: Israel’s Fantastic Fiction of the Holocaust,” in The Boom in Contemporary Israeli Fiction, ed. Alan Mintz (1997); Rachel Brenner, “The Holocuast and Its Fifty-year Old Commemoration,” in Traditions and Transitions in Israel Studies, ed. Laurie Z. Eisenberg, Neil Caplan, Naomi Sokoloff, and Mohammed Abu-Nimr (2003); Sander Gilman, :Is Life Beautiful? Can the Holocuast be Funny?” Critical Inquiry 26, 2 (2000), p. 279 ff; Terence Des Pres, “Holocaust Laughter, in Writing into the World (1991). **Assignment #3: - Thematic analysis

Thane Rosenbaum, “Cattle Car Complex” and “An Act of Defiance” (1996); Savyon Liebrecht, “Excision” and “What Am I Speaking, Chinese? She Said to Him”

Part VIII: Children’s Literature Jane Yolen, Briar Rose Film: “Life is Beautiful” Suggested reading: Adrienne Kertzer, “Do you Know What Auschwitz Means?” The Lion and the Unicorn 23:2 (1999); Lawrence Baron, “Not in Kansas Anymore: Holocaust Films for Children,” The Lion and the Unicorn 27, 3 (2003): 394-409; Hamida Bosmajian, “Memory and Desire in the Landscapes of Sendak’s Dear Mili,” The Lion and the Unicorn 19:2 (1995): 186-210. Part IX: Student Projects Suggested Projects 1. Compare and assess syllabi of courses on the Holocaust and literature at the

college/university level. 2. Contact local schools and report on curriculum – this could include public or private

elementary or secondary schools, or synagogue/other religious schools. 3. Interview children’s librarians on juvenile literature and the Holocaust.

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4. Read and review additional literary texts, especially Aharon Appelfeld: Story of a Life; Cynthia Ozick, “Rosa”; David Grossman, See Under: Love (Chapter 2); or additional selections in Art from the Ashes.

5. Review additional survivor testimony, such as Claude Lanzman’s “Shoah”,

Spielberg’s internet archive, “Never Again, I Hope.” 6. Review of “Schindler’s List” and/or “Holocaust” mini-series. 7. Holocaust remembrance around the world, including visit to Washington State

Holocaust Resource Center – interview the director, examine exhibits, library and resources.

8. The Wilkomirski (Fragments) scandal.

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Additional Secondary Sources

Historical Background Yehuda Bauer, A History of the Holocaust Raoul Hilberg, The Destruction of European Jewry Lucy Dawidowicz , The War Against the Jews, 1933-1945 Walter Lacqueur and Judith Tydor Baumel, eds. The Holocaust Encylcopedia Leni Yahil, The Holocaust: The Fate of European Jewry, 1932-1945 Michael Berenbaum, The World Must Know; A Mosaic of Victims: Non-Jews Persecute

and Murdered by Nazis Martin Gilbert, Atlas of the Holocaust

Literary and Cultural Interpretation and Criticism Alvin Rosenfeld, A Double Dying Lawrence Langer, The Holocaust and the Literary Imagination, Admitting the Holocaust,

Preempting the Holocaust David Roskies, Against the Apocalypse Yosefa Loshitzsky, Spielberg’s Holocaust Sara Horowitz, Voicing the Void Hilene Flantzbaum, The Americanization of the Holocaust Alan Berger, Children of Job Efraim Sicher, ed. The Holocaust Novel. The Dictionary of Literary Biography. Naomi Sokoloff, Imagining the Child in Modern Jewish Fiction S. Lilian Kremer, Women’s Holocaust Writing S. Lillian Kremer, ed. Holocaust Literature: An Encyclopedia of Writers and their Works Edward Alexander, The Resonance of Dust Adrienne Kertzer, My Mother’s Voice

Additional Primary Sources

Anthologies

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Saul Friedlander, Out of the Whirlwind Laurel Holliday, Children in the Holocaust and World War II Carol Rittner and John K. Roth, Different Voices David Roskies, The Literature of Destruction Others Louis Begley, Wartime Lies Tadeusz Borowski, This Way to the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen Charlotte Delbo, None of Us Will Return Yaffa Eliach, Hasidic Tales of the Holocaust Imre Kertesz, Fateless Jerzy Kosinksi, The Painted Bird Primo Levi, Survival in Auschwitz Uri Orlev, The Island on Bird Street Georges Perec, W or the Memory of Childhood Andre Schwarz-Bart, The Last of the Just William Seebald, The Emigrants Art Spiegelman, Maus Elie Wiesel, Night

Hana Volavkova, I Never Saw Another Butterfly