Literature of the Holocaust

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

This course serves as an introduction to the ways in which the Holocaust has been remembered and examined through literature, from early survivor narratives to second-generation works and the recent culture wars in the wake of the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. Although the course will provide a very brief introduction to the historiography of the Holocaust, our main focus is on close readings of various literary works. That is, we will study how trauma is mediated, transformed, and communicated through written works. Contingent upon funding, the course will include a study tour to Berlin and to Auschwitz, where we will visit memorials and documentation sites, speak to representatives of Jewish organizations, and get a better sense for the continuities of Jewish life in Central Europe throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. All expenses for this study tour will be covered by the University, and students must be able to commit to the entirety of the trip.