Open Collections

Contrapuntal Humanism : The Anachronism of Post-Holocaust Diasporic Writing

University of British Columbia. Department of Central, Eastern, and Northern European Studies

An implicit assumption in the field of Holocaust Studies is the enduring importance of humanism, at times framed as a commitment to a universal humanity (note, for example, the universalist solicitation presumed in the familiar dictum or imperative responding to the events of the Holocaust: “never again”). Almost counter-intuitively, considering the tremendous destruction wrought by the Holocaust and other acts of violence, much post-Holocaust literature likewise nonetheless cleaves to a belief in an ideal of humanism, even as it simultaneously exposes its fragility, paradoxes and limitations. Peripatetic literary and cultural critic Edward Said’s evocative use of the term “contrapuntal” provides a productive point of departure for charting the anachronistic relationship between history, time, and form characteristic of post-Holocaust Jewish diasporic writing beyond the traditional Holocaust literary canon, as demonstrated in aspects of the fiction and non-fiction writing of Hans Keilson and H.G. Adler, two lesser-known German-language writers and Jewish survivors in the diaspora.

eng

2023-03-16

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/83925

Unreviewed

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/