The longest shadow
Subtitle: in the aftermath of the Holocaust
By: Geoffrey H. Hartman.
Series: The Helen and Martin Schwartz lectures in Jewish studies
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Published: 1996
Place of publication: Bloomington
Language: eng
Number of pages: 179
Subjects: Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Influence.; Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Historiography.; Holocaust memorials.
Description: Distinguished literary scholar Geoffrey H. Hartman, himself forced to leave Germany at age nine, collects his essays, both scholarly and personal, that focus on the Holocaust. Hartman contends that although progress has been made, we are only beginning to understand the horrendous events of 1933 to 1945. The continuing struggle for meaning, consolation, closure, and the establishment of a collective memory against the natural tendency toward forgetfulness is a recurring theme.

The many forms of response to the devastation - from historical research and survivors' testimony to the novels, films, and monuments that have appeared over the last fifty years - reflect and inform efforts to come to grips with the past, despite events (like those at Bitburg) that attempt to foreclose it. The stricture that poetry after Auschwitz is "barbaric" is countered by the increased sense of responsibility incumbent on the creators of these works.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.