The Shoah is a historical fact which continues to baffle, appall, and chide humanity. In this course, we will be reading works of literature which take this phenomenon as their subject. For it is through literature that writers and readers grapple with the multi-faceted implications of this experience. Some of the authors we will be reading are people who lived through the camps. Some will be children of those who did. And some of the literature we will read has been written by Jews and non-Jews who struggle to fathom the unfathomable, and who are not only keen on ‘never forgetting,’ but are as frequently intent on trying to place themselves and their generation in relation to this tragedy. Some of the ‘classics’ of Shoah literature will be on the syllabus. But lesser known works by young European, American, and Israeli authors will also appear. Most of what we read will be prose, but we will also be looking at poetry and possibly even part of a play.

This course is open to all students.

Discipline: LIT