LEADER 03878cam a2200385Ia 4500001 81138 005 20240621153007.0 008 030312s2002 xx rb 000 0 eng d 035 (OCoLC)ocm52818084 035 81138 049 LHMA 040 LHM |beng |erda |cLHM 090 PN56.H55 |bB87 2002 100 1 Busse, Kristina, |d1967- 245 10 Imagining Auschwitz : |bpostmodern representations of the Holocaust / |cby Kristina Busse. 264 1 [Place of publication not identified] : |b[publisher not identified], |c2002. 300 iv, 245 pages 336 text |btxt |2rdacontent 337 unmediated |bn |2rdamedia 338 volume |bnc |2rdacarrier 502 Thesis (Ph.D.)--Tulane University, 2002. 504 Includes bibliographical references (pages 229-244). 520 This dissertation explores the Holocaust's relationship to modernity and postmodernity and the historic event's effects on a post-Holocaust world, culturally, socially as well as artistically. Showing the Holocaust's widespread influence on our postmodern unconscious, this study examines a variety of literary texts that demonstrate the haunting effects of the Holocaust on the present. After a brief reading of Bernhard Schlink's The Reader that situates the concerns and parameters of this study, Chapter One looks at the theoretical relationship between the Holocaust and postmodernity. For the most part mutually exclusive, cautiously ignoring or, at best, dismissing one another, these fields ought not to be seen as antagonistic but can, instead, greatly contribute to our engagement with the past. Postmodern theory with its denial of universalism, its celebration of the imagination, and its emphasis on representation and representability is highly dangerous to Holocaust Studies. Likewise, postmodernism often shies away from addressing the Holocaust since the historic event comprises possibly its most serious challenge as this historic event questions the easy dismissal of absolute truths and values as well as the ludic treatment of history itself. Nevertheless, the two fields are intricately entwined and a postmodern approach to the Holocaust reveals new insight into both postmodernism and our study of the Holocaust. Accordingly, Chapters Two through Four look at the cultural, linguistic, and psychological effects of the Holocaust on post-War life in close readings of E. L. Doctorow's and Walter Abish's postmodern historical novels, Raymond Federman's highly experimental texts and his readings of Samuel Beckett's work, and D. M. Thomas's controversial fictions. While these authors by no means present a comprehensive account of Holocaust literature, they offer a wide variety of reactions to the Holocaust, not only showing its exemplary role for postmodernism but also exhibiting a variety of ways in which postmodernism can offer new insights into our understanding of the Holocaust and its role in contemporary life. The dissertation concludes with an examination of identity politics within Holocaust, exemplified by the case of Binjamin Wilkomirski's Fragments and the scandal surrounding its reception. 530 Electronic version(s) |bavailable internally at USHMM. 533 Photocopy. |bAnn Arbor, Mich. : |cUMI Dissertation Services, |d2002. |e22 cm. 590 Dissertations and Theses 591 Record updated by Marcive processing 21 June 2024 650 0 Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945), in literature. 650 0 Literature, Modern |y20th century |xHistory and criticism. 856 41 |uhttp://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=726404841&sid=22&Fmt=6&clientId=54617&RQT=309&VName=PQD |zElectronic version from ProQuest 956 41 |u http://dc.ushmm.org/library/bib81138/3046638.pdf |z Hosted by USHMM. 994 X0 |bLHM 852 0 |bstacks |hPN56.H55 |iB87 2002 852 |bwww 852 0 |bebook