LIT 499-03: Testimonies, Memoirs, Fiction: Representing the Holocaust
Ellen Friedman
Class Meetings: Wednesday 8:00-10:50am
This seminar looks at various genres of Holocaust representations, including survivor video testimonies, memoirs, fiction, and film. How does genre make a difference in representing an event that many say is unrepresentable? What are the differences in the strategies of representation of the various genres? What role does aesthetics play? What is the role of the interviewer, observer, or reader in witnessing Holocaust trauma in each of these genres? How do the various genres construct the narrative and what differences in meaning result from the variations with which each genre forms the story? Do they all have equal “truth claims”? The class will closely examine these texts from theoretical perspectives that address these issues about Holocaust representation.