Europe’s post-WWII recovery and integration was motivated by a shared aversion to the violence, racism, and persecution under totalitarian rule. There are important differences, however, in cultures of memory, specifically between former communist countries and their Western-European neighbors. What role did and does the notion of Jewish literature play in these old and new distinctions between an Eastern and Western half of Europe?
Panelists: Ewa Stanczyk (University of Amsterdam), Gabor Schein (Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest), Guido Snel (University of Amsterdam). Moderator: Artemy Kalinovsky
***
Jewish literature — by which we understand all literature that is perceived or labeled as Jewish by critics, readers, publishers and/or authors — has struck a powerful chord in postwar European culture. Its unprecedented popularity can be discerned in the interest in authors whose work is labeled as Jewish within various European countries, but also in the popularity of particular authors throughout the continent (including also the European wide admiration of American Jewish and Israeli literature).
As an umbrella term, Jewish literature in the postwar era covers a wealth of topics crucial to the re-imagining of a cultural, post-Holocaust Europe. These topics range from testimonial literature about the Holocaust experience (e.g. Jean Améry, Tadeusz Borowski, Primo Levi, Elie Wiesel, G.L. Durlacher, Natalia Ginzburg, Imre Kertész, Aleksandar Tišma), groundbreaking inventions in the art of the novel (Danilo Kiš, Georges Perec) to literature ‘documenting’ Jewish life, be it of the shtetl (e.g. Isaac Bashevis Singer, Eva Hoffman), of ultraorthodox societies (e.g. Chaim Potok) or exploring modern Jewish identity (e.g. Philip Roth, Nathan Englander, Robert Menasse, David Bezmozgis), the Zionist project (e.g. Amos Oz and David Grossman) and the unrelenting interest for and re-canonization of prewar authors (Kafka, Benjamin, Zweig, Josef Roth, Bruno Schulz).
The notion of Jewish literature, in short, establishes new transnational connections in a fragmented post-war Europe, across geographical borders (transatlantic and transmediterranean, and east-west during the Cold War), but also across borders of time, reconnecting Europe to a past that has been destroyed. Today, as we witness fundamental transformations in Holocaust remembrance alongside the rise of new tensions and divisions, it is time to assess the nature, functionality, and limits of this European cultural paradigm.
Because of the online character of the conference, the sessions will be wholly devoted to discussion amongst the panelists and therefore not consist of the reading out of papers. The discussions will be based on the panelists research projects and expertise, on which abstracts will be distributed in advance.
