GERM 320 Probing the Limits of Representation: The Holocaust

Probing the Limits of Representation: The Holocaust in Literature and Film The Holocaust has been positioned at the limits of representation -- as the indescribable the incomprehensible. The impossibility of adequately expressing the atrocities of the Holocaust stands in contrast to the need to transmit knowledge about this event to later generations. Attempts to represent the Holocaust to describe and understand this event and its implications are numerous and have occurred across a wide range of media forms (literature film photography art music monuments etc.) and genres (as in documentary drama comedy science fiction). As the Holocaust recedes in time and the numbers of living historical witnesses and survivors decline these representations increasingly shape our perception and understanding of the event. This course will investigate literary filmic and artistic representations of the Holocaust focusing in particular on questions of ethics aesthetics and history. We will begin with a historical survey and then turn to examining the various debates and controversies surrounding the issue of representation of the Shoah and discuss some of the theoretical texts that have shaped the area of Holocaust Studies. Finally we will explore the ways in which these written filmic and artistic cultural artifacts have attempted to narrate the events of the Holocaust and examine exemplary responses to the Shoah in a variety of media forms and genres. The course will deal with questions of ethics and aesthetics such as the meaning of art and the limits of historical representation. What are the aesthetic and ethical implications of creating art about the Holocaust? Does all representation entail an aestheticization of horror? What are the implications of the commercialization of the Holocaust? Students will obtain a basic grasp of the historical events; they will gain an interdisciplinary personalized historical and cultural understanding of this genocide; and are exposed to ongoing debates regarding the limits of representation of the Holocaust. The course is taught in English. SAME AS ECLS 359.