Robert Eaglestone argues that postmodernism,
especially understood in the light of the work of
Emmanuel Levinas and Jacques Derrida, is a response to
the Holocaust. This way of thinking offers new
perspectives on Holocaust testimony, literature,
historiography, and post-Holocaust philosophy. While
postmodernism is often derided for being either playful
and superficial or obscure and elitist, Eaglestone
argues and demonstrates its commitment both to the past
and to ethics.
Dealing with Holocaust testimony,
including the work of Primo Levi and Eli Wiesel, with
the memoirs of 'second generation' survivors and with
recent Holocaust literature, including Anne Michael's
Fugitive Pieces, Jonathan Safran Foer's
Everything is Illuminated and the false memoir
of Benjamin Wilkomirski, The Holocaust and the
Postmodern proposes a new way of reading both
Holocaust testimony and Holocaust fiction. Through an
exploration of Holocaust historiography, the book offers
a new approach to debates over truth and memory.
Eaglestone argues for the central importance of the
Holocaust in understanding the work of Emmanuel Levinas
and Jacques Derrida, and goes on to explore what the
Holocaust means for rationality, ethics, and for the
idea of what it is to be human. Weaving together theory
and practice, testimony, literature, history,
philosophy, and Holocaust studies, this
interdisciplinary book is the first to explore in detail
the significance of the Holocaust for postmodernism, and
the significance of postmodernism for understanding the
Holocaust.
|
|