MENMD3TCL: Topics in Contemporary Literature
Credits: 20 credits
Course Director: Dr Andrew Palmer
The special topic this year is “Writing the Holocaust”. The Nazi genocide of Jews, gypsies, homosexuals and disabled people is one of the 20th century’s most appalling and traumatizing events, the repercussions of which emanate out in many directions and continue to shape our world. However, writing fiction and poetry about the Holocaust is a deeply controversial activity.
The philosopher Michael Wyschogrod argues that “any attempt to transform the Holocaust into art demeans the Holocaust and must result in poor art” and many intellectuals have agreed with him, believing that we should stick to hard facts and analysis. They argue that history and documentary are essential to help us record and remember, and philosophy is indispensable to help us understand – but poetry and fiction will always trivialize the horror and misrepresent it by trapping it in literary convention.
The creative writers whose work we study on this module develop radical ways of approaching the Holocaust which challenge this view. As the critic Lawrence Langer says, “The most compelling Holocaust writers reject … all those literary ideas that normally sustain and nourish the creative effort.” So, as well as being about the Holocaust, this module is about creativity in writing and how the imagination can shape language in new ways to uniquely express a unique horror.
Likely texts include: Primo Levi, If This As A Man; Tadeusz Borowski, This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen; Charles Reznikoff, Holocaust; Cynthia Ozick, The Shawl; Hilda Schiff, Ed. Holocaust Poetry; David Grossman, See Under: Love; Art Spiegelman, Maus.
Assessment will be by a coursework essay of 2,500 words (50%) and a two-hour closed-book exam (50%).
For further information about this module, please contact Dr Andrew Palmer: andrew.palmer@canterbury.ac.uk|.