Holocaust History and the Readings of Ka-Tzetnik

Description

Holocaust History and the Readings of Ka-Tzetnik provides the first extensive exploration of the reception of Ka-Tzetnik's work and the role that his books have played in the larger discussion of the Holocaust and its memorialization around the world. Including contributions from an international and interdisciplinary group of experienced scholars, the book examines the literary merits, historical context and public resonance of Ka-Tzetnik's stories. It also places his novels in the context of post-WWII debates about how the memories and testimonies of the victims of the Holocaust can be represented and made publicly accessible through literature. There is also detailed coverage of key topics, like Holocaust memory and sexual violence in the concentration camps, and thorough historical analysis of key works like House of Dolls included throughout. This is an important study for all scholars and students with an interest in the Holocaust and Holocaust literature.

Annette F. Timm is Associate Professor in the Department of History at the University of Calgary, Canada. She is the author of The Politics of Fertility in Twentieth-Century Berlin (2010).

[The book] makes critical strides in generating a new, sophisticated conversation about Ka-Tzetnik's life and work for scholars of literature, sexuality, and the Holocaust. * History: Reviews of New Books * This volume is a valuable and timely reassessment of Ka-Tzetnik's work and reputation in the context of current debates in Holocaust studies. * Journal of Modern Jewish Studies * A signal achievement in Holocaust studies, this is the first book of essays in English devoted to writer Ka-Tzetnik, also known as Yehiel De-Nur or Dinur, who was an Auschwitz survivor ... Written by scholars at universities in the US, Canada, Germany, Austria, Israel, and Italy, the essays (which emanate from a 2013 conference on Ka-Tzetnik) provide invaluable information ... Summing Up: Essential. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. * CHOICE * This indispensable book provides the first comprehensive introduction to the life and works of Ka-Tzenik. In a series of trenchant essays, it uncovers and analyzes the numerous layers of meanings that make up his oeuvre, ranging from its exploitation of camp pornography to its profound insights into the reality of what he called "the other planet". Ka-Tzenik is revealed here as a crucial voice in the ongoing attempt to represent the horrors of Nazi genocide. * Omer Bartov, John P. Birkelund Distinguished Professor of European History and Professor of German Studies, Brown University, USA * A unique publication, the first of its kind in English. A link in the scholarly chain of Holocaust Studies, a study of the reception of Holocaust literature and testimonial texts in general, through the lens of Ka-Tzetnik's oeuvre in particular. The book introduces an important dialogue to the English-speaking scholarly sphere. * Yechiel Szeintuch, Joseph & Ida Berman Professor Emeritus of Yiddish, Hebrew University, Jerusalem * This excellent, intellectually-challenging book is the first collection of essays in English devoted exclusively to the writings of Ka-Tzetnik. It successfully redraws the boundaries of Holocaust scholarship by linking in new and creative ways the topics of testimony and fiction, literature and pulp fiction, sexuality and the eroticization of the Nazi past, kitsch and global memory. * Alon Confino, Professor of History, University of Virginia, USA *