02:30P-03:45P TR (30) 3 cr.
TOPIC: LITERATURE OF THE HOLOCAUST. THIS COURSE CARRIES CULTURE STUDIES CREDIT.
Among the most compelling literatures of our day is that which records and seeks to interpret the Nazi war of genocide against the Jews. This course will introduce students to this literature and encourage them to reflect upon many of the profound questions it raises. Some of these questions will focus on literature's role in the shaping of historical memory. How the past is represented and comes to acquire a future in collective memory will be a preoccupying concern of our semester's work. Other questions will focus on issues of the most serious cultural, moral, ethical, and religious kind. For instance, if it is true, as Elie Wiesel claims, that at Auschwitz not only man died but also the idea of man, how do we now conceive of the human? What does a person become when nothing is any longer forbidden him? Why did art, intellect, and religion not defend against political barbarism? Is forgiveness possible after Auschwitz? These and related questions will preoccupy us over the course of the semester.
The list of required readings for this course includes the
following:
Anne Frank, The Diary of A Young Girl
Elie Wiesel, Night
Primo Levi, Survival in Auschwitz
Primo Levi, The Drowned and the Saved
Tadeusz Borowski, This Way for the Gas, Ladies and
Gentlemen
Chaim A. Kaplan, Scroll of Agony: The Warsaw Diary of Chaim
A. Kaplan
Bernhard Schlink, The Reader
In addition to the above, there will be some mimeographed handouts of poetry and other material, and at least one film will be shown. Also, you will be encouraged to attend any lectures on the Holocaust that may be presented this semester by visiting scholars. Written work will include three examinations and an optional term paper for those students who wish to write one.
Given the nature of the subject matter, this will be a demanding course. Students who sign up for it will be expected to do the assigned readings on time, attend all class meetings, and participate actively in class discussion of the literature. Repeated unexcused absences will lower your grade for the course. If you have questions and would like to speak with me personally before enrolling, please call me (at 855-8358) or contact me over e-mail at ROSENFEL@indiana.edu.