eBook

Between Witness and Testimony

Michael Bernard-Donals, Richard Glejzer

2012

Overview

The Holocaust presents an immense challenge to those who would represent it or teach it through fiction, film, or historical accounts. Even the testimonies of those who were there provide only a glimpse of the disaster to those who were not. Between Witness and Testimony investigates the difficulties inherent in the obligation to bear witness to events that seem not just unspeakable but also unthinkable. The authors examine films, fictional narratives, survivor testimonies, and the museums at Yad Vashem and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in order to establish an ethics of Holocaust representation. Traversing the disciplines of history, philosophy, religious studies, and literary and cultural theory, the authors suggest that while no account adequately provides access to what Adorno called \"the extremity that eludes the concept,\" we are still obliged to testify, to put into language what history cannot contain.

• Publisher: State University of New York Press,SUNY Press
• Subject: Cultural Studies : Cultural Studies / European Studies / History / HISTORY / Holocaust / HISTORY / Jewish / History : Holocaust Studies / History : World War II / History and criticism / Holocaust, Jewish (1939–1945) / Holocaust, Jewish (1939–1945), in literature / Holocaust, Jewish (1939–1945), in motion pictures / Influence / Jewish Studies / Jewish Studies : Jewish Studies Books / Language & Literature / LITERARY CRITICISM / LITERARY CRITICISM / Jewish / Literature : Literary Criticism / Psychological aspects
• ISBN: 9780791451496, 0791451496, 9780791489673, 0791489671