Contrapuntal Humanism: Fugitive Writing from the Post-Holocaust Diaspora

"Almost counter-intuitively, considering the tremendous destruction wrought by acts of state-sponsored violence under the Nazi regime, post-Holocaust literature often cleaves to an ideal of humanism, even as it simultaneously exposes the concept’s 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 considering charged scenes of fugitivity captured by Jewish diasporic voices that challenge and reconfigure humanist conceits. (Here, specifically writings by H.G. Adler, survivor and chronicler of Theresienstadt; and by psychoanalyst-psychiatrist, poet, and novelist Hans Keilson)."

Anna Parkinson is Associate Professor in the Department of German, a Core Member of the Critical Theory Program, and an affiliate of the Gender and Sexuality Studies Program and the Jewish Studies Program at Northwestern University.

Q&A to follow

Part of the Grilk Lecture Series