MLR, 96. , 200o TheHolocaust andtheText.Speaking theUnspeakable. Ed. byANDREW LEAK and GEORGE PAIZIS.Basingstoke:Macmillan; New York:St Martin's Press in assoc. with The Institute for Romance Studies and The Institute for English Studies, School of Advanced Study, The University of London, and The Wiener Library. I999. ix + I96 pp. C42.50(paperboundLI 4.99). Writingof the Holocaust has alwayspresented difficultieson account of the nature of the subject.How can a writereffectivelyconvey a truthfulaccount of what he or she believes actually occurred? This useful collection provides insights into the methods that various writers have used and the implications of those methods. Andrew Leak and George Paizis point out that while none of the authors of the essays writes from the viewpoint of a survivor, presenting first-hand testimony, the essays'workpreciselyin this gap between knowledgeand understanding'(p. 3), a gap GeoffreyHartmannbelieves the surfeitof documentationhas not filled. The editors admit to a purpose that is certainlyadmirable.Awareof the growth of the far right in certain countries, they wish to make a contribution to achieving an understandingof the Holocaust, and see thisvolume of essayson representation of it as a small but necessary item contributing to that goal. They quite correctly believe that in presenting any event mediation must occur and a particular viewpoint be chosen. It is upon the types of mediation and viewpoints chosen that these essaysarefocused. Inheressay,'HolocaustGenresandtheTurnto History',BerelLangconvincingly arguesthatwhetherit be the diary,autobiography,oralhistory,'non-fictionfiction', 'indirect'Holocaust writingswhere the event is not even mentioned but implied, or historicalwritingsthemselves,'allaspireto the condition of history'(p. I9). They all refer to a particular historical event and aim for historical authenticity. This inherent moral limitation on Holocaust writing is explored through various metamorphosesin most of the essaysin thisvolume. Anna Hardman's essay, 'Representations of the Holocaust in Women's Testimony ', raises many significantissues, among them the place of feminist theory in understanding women's Holocaust experiences. Citing an important anthology entitled Different Voices: Women andtheHolocaust, ed. by C. Rittner and J. K. Roth (New York:Paragon House, I993), Hardman refersto Helen Fagin'sand Cynthia Ozick's view that feminism is inappropriate,even trivializing,when applied to the Holocaust. She cites Ozick'sremarkthat the victims'werenot seen as men, women, or children, but as Jews' (p. 52). Referring to other writers and texts, Hardman takes issue with a tendency to view certain qualities as essentially female: 'supportiveness, compassion, nurturing, intuitiveness, unselfishness, tenderness, sensitivity'(p. 59). The effect of this is to homogenize female experience by critics who comment upon the narrativesin a highly selectivefashion.She remindsus that much contemporary feminist theory stresses difference, not seeing women as a categoryand therebyerasingthe cultural,religious,class,and otherdistinctionsthat separatethem. In 'The Holocaust as Seen through the Eyes of Children',Andrea Reiter points out that while it is inevitable that the adult writer's views are present when describinga child's, none the less, 'itis the gaze of the child that allowsus to see in a new way that which we thinkwe alreadyknow' (p. 84). Memoirs of the camps are frequentlywritten by elderlypeople who survivedthem as children and now recall their experiences. The writers are concerned with 'literariness' only to aid in presenting their sufferingsmore vividly. Elie Wiesel was one of the few survivors who, in Night,managed to transformhis experiencesinto a successfulnovel. I77 The volume alsocontainsessayson individualwriters(GeorgeSteiner,Emmanuel Levinas, Aharon Appelfeld, Patrick Modiano, Marguerite Duras, and Robert Antelme). The effect of the discussionsis to make the reader aware of the various types of writing that have attempted to chronicle the Holocaust and the difficulties and problems that have been inherent in each. This is a most useful volume for those interestedin readingHolocaust writingswith intelligence and understanding. UNIVERSITY OF HULL EDWARD A. ABRAMSON Reception Histories:Rhetoric, Pragmatism, andAmerican Cultural Politics. By STEVEN MAILLOUX. Ithaca, NY, and London: Cornell University Press. I998. xv + 206 pp. C36.50;$42.50 (paperbound? 3.95; $I5-95). In Reception Histories StevenMailloux setsout to clarifyand elaboratethe interpretive project first proposed in Rhetorical Power(Ithaca, NY, and London: Cornell University Press, I989). Originallyproposed as 'an anti-Theory theory', rhetorical hermeneuticswas intended to open up a thirdway, an escape from the theoretical/ critical/political stalematethathad lockedthe debate in US Englishdepartmentsin...
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May 1, 2024
José Germán Flores Garnica + 3
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