Catastrophe and Meaning

The Holocaust and the Twentieth Century

Edited by Moishe Postone and Eric Santner

Edited by Moishe Postone and Eric Santner

Cloth $62.50 ISBN: 9780226676104 Published November 2003

Paper $30.00 ISBN: 9780226676111 Published November 2003

How should we understand the relation of the Holocaust to the broader historical processes of the century just ended? How do we explain the bearing of the Holocaust on problems of representation, memory, memorialization, and historical practice? These are some of the questions explored by an esteemed group of scholars in Catastrophe and Meaning, the most significant multiauthored book on the Holocaust in over a decade.

This collection features essays that consider the role of anti-Semitism in the recounting of the Holocaust; the place of the catastrophe in the narrative of twentieth-century history; the questions of agency and victimhood that the Holocaust inspires; the afterlife of trauma in literature written about the tragedy; and the gaps in remembrance and comprehension that normal historical works fail to notice.
Contributors:
Omer Bartov, Dan Diner, Debòrah Dwork, Saul Friedländer, Geoffrey Hartman, Dominick LaCapra, Paul Mendes-Flohr, Anson Rabinbach, Frank Trommler, Shulamit Volkov, Froma Zeitlin

Review Quotes
Contents

"Nearly every student of the Holocaust will find something of interest in this anthology."

"What these essays call for is self-reflection on how we write of the Holocaust. Not only do they raise questions about our choices of periodization, of cause and effect, of the 'modernity' of the Holocaust and historical agency, but ultimately of whether . . . we use the language of hope, or . . . the form of lament."—Tim Cole, History

“Even as it assesses the place of the Holocaust in the grand narratives of twentieth-century history, Catastrophe and Meaning traces its enduring afterlife in the twenty-first. Stressing, on the one hand, historical factors and their explanatory power and, on the other, the absence of meaning and the impossibilities of representation that result from the irreparable breach that is the Holocaust, these thoughtful, illuminating and provocative essays, written by an international group of historians and literary scholars, reconsider persistent questions with which we will continue to grapple: anti-Semitism as a causal factor; the role of modernity in enabling the Holocaust; the status of the victim and German discourses of victimization; the responsibilities of remembrance across generations; the corruption of language; and the future of hope after catastrophe. This is an impressive, indispensable book.”<Marianne G. Hirsch, Dartmouth University>

“Given the explosion of books on the Holocaust, it is comforting to have one that provides an overview of the central problems as seen by the best minds writing in the field. Postone and Santner’s volume sets the standard for considering the Holocaust from our perspective in the twenty-first century. If you are to read anything this year on the Holocaust, it should be this book.”<Sander Gilman, University of Illinois at Chicago>

“Catastrophe and Meaning is an original and insightful work of intellectual history that summarizes and reformulates key issues by which the Shoah has been interpreted at the end of the twentieth century. This excellent book will be a welcome addition to the study of the Holocaust and its implications for problems of representation and historical practice.”<James Young, University of Massachusetts at Amherst>

"Postone and Santner deserve a great deal of credit for condensing into one collection many of the most significant issues in Holocaust studies. The essays are marked by an intellectual profundity."

"An exceptionally important and useful compilation of essays that revisit and sometimes rethink the critical issues connected with our understanding of the Holocaust and German History."—Stephen Feinstein, Shofur

"The work of many of the contributors is already well known, yet it is worthwhile to see their positions further articulated and developed here. . . . The high quality of this book and its contributions makes it clear that the dimensions of the field's various literary, philosophical, and historical debates have only broadened and generated more compelling scholarship over time."

Contents

Introduction: Catastrophe and Meaning
Moishe Postone and Eric Santner

PART ONE: HISTORY, ANTI-SEMITISM, AND THE HOLOCAUST
1. Ideology and Extermination: The Immediate Origins of the
"Final Solution"
Saul Friedländer
2. Anti-Semitism as Explanation: For and Against
Shulamit Volkov

PART TWO: THE HOLOCAUST AND THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
3. "The Abyss that opened up before us": Thinking about Auschwitz and Modernity
Anson Rabinbach
4. The Destruction of Narrativity: The Holocaust in Historical
Discourse
Dan Diner
5. The Holocaust and the Trajectory of the Twentieth Century
Moishe Postone
PART THREE: ANNIHILATION, VICTIMHOOD, IDENTITY
6. "Fields of Glory": War, Genocide, and the Glorification of
Violence
Omer Bartov
7. Stalingrad, Hiroshima, Auschwitz: The Fading of the
Therapeutic Approach
Frank Trommler
8. Agents, Contexts, Responsibilities: The Massacre at Budy
Debórah Dwork
PART FOUR: TRAUMA AND THE LIMITS OF REPRESENTATION
9. New Soundings in Holocaust Literature: A Surplus of
Memory
Froma Zeitlin
10. Holocaust Testimonies: Attending to the Victim's Voice
Dominick LaCapra
11. Holocaust and Hope
Geoffrey Hartman
12. Lament's Hope
Paul Mendes-Flohr

Acknowledgments
List of Contributors
Index

For more information, or to order this book, please visit http://www.press.uchicago.edu

History: European History

Literature and Literary Criticism: General Criticism and Critical Theory | Germanic Languages

Political Science: Political and Social Theory

Religion: Judaism | Philosophy of Religion, Theology, and Ethics

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