Caught by History by Ernst Van Alphen

Caught by History by Ernst Van Alphen

In the face of strong moral and aesthetic pressure to deal with the Holocaust in strictly historical and documentary modes, this book discusses why and how reenactment of the Holocaust in art and imaginative literature can be successful in simultaneously presenting, analyzing, and working through this apocalyptic moment in human history.

In pursuing his argument, the author explores such diverse materials and themes as: the testimonies of Holocaust survivors; the works of such artists and writers as Charlotte Salomon, Christian Boltanski, and Armando; and the question of what it means to live in a house built by a jew who was later transported to the death camps. He shows that reenactment, as an artistic project, also functions as a critical strategy, one that, unlike historical methods requiring a mediator, speaks directly to us and lures us into the Holocaust.

We are then placed in the position of experiencing and being the subjects of that history. We are there, and history is present—but not quite. A confrontation with Nazism or with the Holocaust by means of a re-enactment takes place within the representational realm of art. Our access to this past is no longer mediated by the account of a witness, by a narrator, by the eye of a photographer. We do not respond to a re-presentation of the historical event, but to a presentation or performance of it, and our response is direct or firsthand in a different way. That different way of "keeping in touch" is the subject of inquiry that propels this study.

"Caught by History is a finely balanced, scholarly narrative of van Alphen's encounters with Holocaust literature, testimony, and artIt brings to our attention little-known artists, and tackles convincingly the bothersome issue of the validity of art in the face of catastrophe, and particularly this catastrophe." —Geoffrey Hartman, Yale University.

Alphen, Ernst Van: - Ernst van Alphen is the Queen Beatrix Professor of Dutch Studies and professor of rhetoric at the University of California, Berkeley, as well as professor of literary studies at the University of Leiden. He is the author of numerous books, most recently Armando: Shaping Memory; Caught by History: Holocaust Effects in Contemporary Art, Literature, and Theory; and Francis Bacon and the Loss of Self.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780804729154
ISBN 10	0804729158
Title	Caught by History
Author	Ernst Van Alphen
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Stanford University Press
Year published	1998-01-01
Number of pages	248
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.