Holocaust Literature and Representation: Their Lives, Our Words

Description

Each scholar working in the field of Holocaust literature and representation has a story to tell. Not only the scholarly story of the work they do, but their personal story, their journey to becoming a specialist in Holocaust studies. What academic, political, cultural, and personal experiences led them to choose Holocaust representation as their subject of research and teaching? What challenges did they face on their journey? What approaches, genres, media, or other forms of Holocaust representation did they choose and why? How and where did they find a scholarly "home" in which to share their work productively? Have political, social, and cultural conditions today affected how they think about their work on Holocaust representation? How do they imagine their work moving forward, including new challenges, responses, and audiences? These are but a few of the questions that the authors in this volume address, showing how a scholar's field of research and resulting writings are not arbitrary, and are often informed by their personal history and professional experiences.

Phyllis Lassner is Professor Emerita in the Crown Center for Jewish and Israel Studies, Gender Studies, and Writing Programs at Northwestern University, USA. She is author of numerous books and articles on Holocaust literature and representation including as co-editor of the Palgrave Handbook of Holocaust Literature and Culture (2020). Judith Tydor Baumel-Schwartz is Director of the Arnold and Leona Finkler Institute of Holocaust Research, the Abraham and Edita Spiegel Family Professor in Holocaust Research, the Rabbi Pynchas Brener Professor in Research on the Holocaust of European Jewry, and Professor of Modern Jewish History at Bar-Ilan University, Israel. She is also editor of several compilations of academic autobiographies, including co-editor of Her Story, My Story? Writing about Women and the Holocaust (2020).

This collected volume of academic autobiographical essays constitutes an innovative perspective on exploring Holocaust history and commemoration based on the personal narratives of scholars who engage in Holocaust representations. The stories reveal a wide range of approaches to working on the topic and the authors' diverse experiences while conducting their research. The volume thus provides a highly important behind-the-scenes glimpse of the ways the Holocaust has influenced and shaped the professional lives of scholars with different national, cultural, and generational identities in the USA, Britain, and Israel. It makes a special contribution to Holocaust scholarship by underscoring how the Holocaust past remains a haunting present. * Liat Steir-Livny, Associate Professor in Holocaust Studies, Film Studies & Cultural Studies, Sapir Academic College and Open University of Israel, Israel * Rarely does an academic book about Holocaust representation move me so deeply. These beautiful essays pay homage to the idea of 'journey,' of the role of serendipity, deliberation, and reflection on the path, offering personal stories and histories that will feel familiar, intimate, and challenging. * Holli Levitsky, Professor of English and Director of Jewish Studies, Loyola Marymount University, USA * This is a book equivalent of the intimacy of sitting down with a colleague and asking them just how they ended up researching what they do. Their moving and insightful responses reveal the influence of people and texts as well as the importance of the shifting national contexts of post-war America, Britain and Israel on research in Holocaust literature and representations. Reading this book not only do you get to know the scholars featured here better, but also the evolution of a field that they have pioneered and contributed to. * Tim Cole, Professor of Social History, University of Bristol, UK *