Perverse Memory and the Holocaust

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Author :
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
ISBN 13 : 1003833454
Total Pages : 217 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (38 download)

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Book Synopsis Perverse Memory and the Holocaust by : Jan Borowicz

Download or read book Perverse Memory and the Holocaust written by Jan Borowicz and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2024-01-31 with total page 217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Perverse Memory and the Holocaust presents a new theoretical approach to the study of Polish memory bystanders of the Holocaust. Drawing on psychoanalytic theory, it examines representations of the Holocaust in order to explore the perverse mechanisms of memory at work, in which surface a series of phenomena difficult to remember: the pleasure derived from witnessing scenes of violence, identification with the German perpetrators of violence, the powerful fear of revenge at the hands of Jewish victims, and the adoption of the position of genocide victims. Moving away from the focus of previous psychoanalytic studies of memory on questions of mourning, melancholy, repressed memory, and loss, this volume considers the transformation of the collective identity of those who remained in the space of past Holocaust events: bystanders, who partook in the events and benefited from the extermination of the Jews. A critique of ‘perverse memory’ that hampers attempts to work through what is remembered, this book will be of interest to scholars across the social sciences working in the fields of Holocaust studies, memory studies, psychoanalytic studies, and cultural studies.

The Perversion of Holocaust Memory

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Author :
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1350281883
Total Pages : 160 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (52 download)

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Book Synopsis The Perversion of Holocaust Memory by : Judith M. Hughes

Download or read book The Perversion of Holocaust Memory written by Judith M. Hughes and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2022-02-24 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the early years of the 21st century it appeared that the memory of the Holocaust was secure in Western Europe; that, in order to gain entry into the European Union, the countries of Eastern Europe would have to acknowledge their compatriots' complicity in genocide. Fifteen year later, the landscape looks starkly different. Shedding fresh light on these developments, The Perversion of Holocaust Memory explores the politicization and distortion of Holocaust remembrance since 1989. This innovative book opens with an analysis of events across Europe which buttressed confidence in the stability of Holocaust memory and brought home the full extent of nations' participation in the Final Solution. And yet, as Judith M. Hughes reveals in later chapters, mainstream accountability began to crumble as the 21st century progressed: German and Jewish suffering was equated; anti-Semitic rhetoric re-entered contemporary discourse; populist leaders side-stepped inconvenient facts; and, more recently with the revival of ethno-nationalism, Holocaust remembrance has been caught in the backlash of the European refugee crisis. The four countries analyzed here – France, Germany, Hungary, and Poland – could all claim to be victims of Nazi Germany, the Allies or the Communist Soviet Union but they were also all perpetrators. Ultimately, it is this complex legacy which Hughes adroitly untangles in her sophisticated study of Holocaust memory in modern Europe.

The Memory Monster

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Author :
Publisher : Restless Books
ISBN 13 : 1632062720
Total Pages : 150 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (32 download)

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Book Synopsis The Memory Monster by : Yishai Sarid

Download or read book The Memory Monster written by Yishai Sarid and published by Restless Books. This book was released on 2020-09-08 with total page 150 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The controversial English-language debut of celebrated Israeli novelist Yishai Sarid is a harrowing, ironic parable of how we reckon with human horror, in which a young, present-day historian becomes consumed by the memory of the Holocaust. Written as a report to the chairman of Yad Vashem, Israel’s memorial to the victims of the Holocaust, our unnamed narrator recounts his own undoing. Hired as a promising young historian, he soon becomes a leading expert on Nazi methods of extermination at concentration camps in Poland during World War II and guides tours through the sites for students and visiting dignitaries. He hungrily devours every detail of life and death in the camps and takes pride in being able to recreate for his audience the excruciating last moments of the victims’ lives. The job becomes a mission, and then an obsession. Spending so much time immersed in death, his connections with the living begin to deteriorate. He resents the students lost in their iPhones, singing sentimental songs, not expressing sufficient outrage at the genocide committed by the Nazis. In fact, he even begins to detect, in the students as well as himself, a hint of admiration for the murderers—their efficiency, audacity, and determination. Force is the only way to resist force, he comes to think, and one must be prepared to kill. With the perspicuity of Kafka’s The Trial and the obsessions of Delillo’s White Noise, The Memory Monster confronts difficult questions that are all too relevant to Israel and the world today: How do we process human brutality? What makes us choose sides in conflict? And how do we honor the memory of horror without becoming consumed by it? Praise for The Memory Monster: “Award-winning Israeli novelist Sarid’s latest work is a slim but powerful novel, rendered beautifully in English by translator Greenspan…. Propelled by the narrator’s distinctive voice, the novel is an original variation on one of the most essential themes of post-Holocaust literature: While countless writers have asked the question of where, or if, humanity can be found within the profoundly inhumane, Sarid incisively shows how preoccupation and obsession with the inhumane can take a toll on one’s own humanity…. it is, if not an indictment of Holocaust memorialization, a nuanced and trenchant consideration of its layered politics. Ultimately, Sarid both refuses to apologize for Jewish rage and condemns the nefarious forms it sometimes takes. A bold, masterful exploration of the banality of evil and the nature of revenge, controversial no matter how it is read.” —Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review “[A] record of a breakdown, an impassioned consideration of memory and its risks, and a critique of Israel’s use of the Holocaust to shape national identity…. Sarid’s unrelenting examination of how narratives of the Holocaust are shaped makes for much more than the average confessional tale.” —Publishers Weekly “Reading The Memory Monster, which is written as a report to the director of Yad Vashem, felt like both an extremely intimate experience and an eerily clinical Holocaust history lesson. Perfectly treading the fine line between these two approaches, Sarid creates a haunting exploration of collective memory and an important commentary on humanity. How do we remember the Holocaust? What tolls do we pay to carry on memory? This book hit me viscerally, emotionally, and personally. The Memory Monster is brief, but in its short account Sarid manages to lay bare the tensions between memory and morals, history and nationalism, humanity and victimhood. An absolute must-read.” —Julia DeVarti, Literati Bookstore (Ann Arbor, MI) “In Yishai Sarid’s dark, thoughtful novel The Memory Monster, a Holocaust historian struggles with the weight of his profession…. The Memory Monster is a novel that pulls no punches in its exploration of the responsibility—and the cost—of holding vigil over the past.” —Eileen Gonzalez, Foreword Reviews

The Most Precious of Cargoes

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Author :
Publisher : HarperCollins
ISBN 13 : 0062981811
Total Pages : 71 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (629 download)

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Book Synopsis The Most Precious of Cargoes by : Jean-Claude Grumberg

Download or read book The Most Precious of Cargoes written by Jean-Claude Grumberg and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2020-09-29 with total page 71 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Set during the height of World War II, a powerful and unsettling tale about a woodcutter and his wife, who finds a mysterious parcel thrown from a passing train. Once upon a time in an enormous forest lived a woodcutter and his wife. The woodcutter is very poor and a war rages around them, making it difficult for them to put food on the table. Yet every night, his wife prays for a child. A Jewish father rides on a train holding twin babies. His wife no longer has enough milk to feed both children. In hopes of saving them both, he wraps his daughter in a shawl and throws her into the forest. While foraging for food, the wife finds a bundle, a baby girl wrapped in a shawl. Although she knows harboring this baby could lead to her death, she takes the child home. Set against the horrors of the Holocaust and told with a fairytale-like lyricism, The Most Precious of Cargoes is a fable about family and redemption which reminds us that humanity can be found in the most inhumane of places. Translated from the French by Frank Wynne

Perverse Memory and the Holocaust

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Author :
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 9781032360508
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (65 download)

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Book Synopsis Perverse Memory and the Holocaust by : JAN. BOROWICZ

Download or read book Perverse Memory and the Holocaust written by JAN. BOROWICZ and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2024-01-31 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Perverse Memory and the Holocaust presents a new theoretical approach to the study of Polish memory bystanders of the Holocaust. Drawing on psychoanalytic theory, it examines representations of the Holocaust in order to explore the perverse mechanisms of memory at work, in which surface a series of phenomena difficult to remember: the pleasure derived from witnessing scenes of violence, identification with the German perpetrators of violence, the powerful fear of revenge at the hands of Jewish victims, and the adoption of the position of genocide victims. Moving away from the focus of previous psychoanalytic studies of memory on questions of mourning, melancholy, repressed memory, and loss, this volume considers the transformation of the collective identity of those who remained in the space of past Holocaust events: bystanders, who partook in the events and benefited from the extermination of the Jews. A critique of 'perverse memory' that hampers attempts to work through what is remembered, this book will be of interest to scholars across the social sciences working in the fields of Holocaust studies, memory studies, psychoanalytic studies and cultural studies.

What Ifs of Jewish History

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Author :
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 110703762X
Total Pages : 419 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (7 download)

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Book Synopsis What Ifs of Jewish History by : Gavriel D. Rosenfeld

Download or read book What Ifs of Jewish History written by Gavriel D. Rosenfeld and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2016-09-08 with total page 419 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Counterfactual history of the Jewish past inviting readers to explore how the course of Jewish history might have been different.

The New German Jewry and the European Context

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Author :
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 0230582907
Total Pages : 205 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (35 download)

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Book Synopsis The New German Jewry and the European Context by : Y. Bodemann

Download or read book The New German Jewry and the European Context written by Y. Bodemann and published by Springer. This book was released on 2008-06-30 with total page 205 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Departing from the recent critical literature on the emergence of a new German Jewry, this volume proposes a new perspective on the post-1980s phenomenon of re-emerging Jewish culture in Germany as a case study for wider developments in Europe and the international context.

The Memory Phenomenon in Contemporary Historical Writing

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Author :
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 1137494662
Total Pages : 242 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (374 download)

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Book Synopsis The Memory Phenomenon in Contemporary Historical Writing by : Patrick H. Hutton

Download or read book The Memory Phenomenon in Contemporary Historical Writing written by Patrick H. Hutton and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-07-15 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this book, the author provides a comprehensive overview of the intense and sustained work on the relationship between collective memory and history, retracing the royal roads pioneering scholars have traveled in their research and writing on this topic: notably, the politics of commemoration (purposes and practices of public remembrance); the changing uses of memory worked by new technologies of communication (from the threshold of literacy to the digital age); the immobilizing effects of trauma upon memory (with particular attention to the remembered legacy of the Holocaust). He follows with an analysis of the implications of this scholarship for our thinking about history itself, with attention to such issues as the mnemonics of historical time, and the encounter between representation and experience in historical understanding. His book provides insight into the way interest in the concept of memory - as opposed to long-standing alternatives, such as myth, tradition, and heritage - has opened new vistas for scholarship not only in cultural history but also in shared ventures in memory studies in related fields in the humanities and social sciences.

Tango of Death: The Creation of a Holocaust Legend

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Author :
Publisher : BRILL
ISBN 13 : 9004525076
Total Pages : 144 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (45 download)

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Book Synopsis Tango of Death: The Creation of a Holocaust Legend by : Willem de Haan

Download or read book Tango of Death: The Creation of a Holocaust Legend written by Willem de Haan and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2022-10-24 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book traces the origins of the legend that Jewish musicians in concentration camps were forced to play a Tango of Death at the gas chambers and shows how in this legend the actual history is hidden, distorted, or even lost altogether.

Witness and Memory

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Author :
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1136073620
Total Pages : 390 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (36 download)

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Book Synopsis Witness and Memory by : Ana Douglass

Download or read book Witness and Memory written by Ana Douglass and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-11-12 with total page 390 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a collection within the anthropology of violence and witness studies, a discipline inaugurated in the 1980s. It accomplishes a tight focus while tackling seemingly disparate topics: from Rigoberat Menchu to O.J. Simpson, and from feminist poetry to Hiroshima Mon Amour. With approaches ranging from anthropological and historical to literary and philosophical, this collection is engaging in both subject matter and writing style.

Memory and the Impact of Political Transformation in Public Space

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Author :
Publisher : Duke University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780822386346
Total Pages : 342 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (863 download)

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Book Synopsis Memory and the Impact of Political Transformation in Public Space by : Daniel J. Walkowitz

Download or read book Memory and the Impact of Political Transformation in Public Space written by Daniel J. Walkowitz and published by Duke University Press. This book was released on 2004-11-30 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Memory and the Impact of Political Transformation in Public Space explores the effects of major upheavals—wars, decolonization, and other social and economic changes—on the ways in which public histories are presented around the world. Examining issues related to public memory in twelve countries, the histories collected here cut across political, cultural, and geographic divisions. At the same time, by revealing recurring themes and concerns, they show how basic issues of history and memory transcend specific sites and moments in time. A number of the essays look at contests over public memory following two major political transformations: the wave of liberation from colonial rule in much of Africa, Asia, and Central and South America during the second half of the twentieth century and the reorganization of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet bloc beginning in the late 1980s. This collection expands the scope of what is considered public history by pointing to silences and absences that are as telling as museums and memorials. Contributors remind us that for every monument that is erected, others—including one celebrating Sri Lanka’s independence and another honoring the Unknown Russian Soldier of World War II—remain on the drawing board. While some sites seem woefully underserved by a lack of public memorials—as do post–Pinochet Chile and post–civil war El Salvador—others run the risk of diluting meaning through overexposure, as may be happening with Israel’s Masada. Essayists examine public history as it is conveyed not only in marble and stone but also through cityscapes and performances such as popular songs and parades. Contributors James Carter John Czaplicka Kanishka Goonewardena Lisa Maya Knauer Anna Krylova Teresa Meade Bill Nasson Mary Nolan Cynthia Paces Andrew Ross Daniel Seltz T. M. Scruggs Irina Carlota Silber Daniel J. Walkowitz Yael Zerubavel

Trauma & Memory

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Author :
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1000368629
Total Pages : 224 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (3 download)

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Book Synopsis Trauma & Memory by : Christine Berberich

Download or read book Trauma & Memory written by Christine Berberich and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-03-31 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over the past decades, the memory of the Holocaust has not only become a common cultural consciousness but also a cultural property shared by people all over the world. This collection brings together academics, critics and creative practitioners from the fields of Holocaust Studies, Literature, History, Media Studies, Creative Writing and German Studies to discuss contemporary trends in Holocaust commemoration and representation in literature, film, TV, the entertainment industry and social media. The essays in this trans-disciplinary collection debate how contemporary culture engages with the legacy of the Holocaust now that, 75 years on from the end of the Second World War, the number of actual survivors is dwindling. It engages with ongoing cultural debates in Holocaust Studies that have seen a development from, largely, testimonial presentations of the Holocaust to more fictional narratives both in literature and film. In addition to a number of chapters focusing in particular on literary trends in Holocaust representation, the collection also assesses other forms of cultural production surrounding the Holocaust, ranging from recent official memorialisation in Germany to Holocaust presentation in film, computer games and social media. The collection also highlights the contributions by creative practitioners such as writers and performers who use drama and the traditional art of storytelling in order to keep memories alive and pass them on to new generations. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Holocaust Studies: A Journal of Culture and History.

Israel's Holocaust and the Politics of Nationhood

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Author :
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 9781139446624
Total Pages : 260 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (466 download)

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Book Synopsis Israel's Holocaust and the Politics of Nationhood by : Idith Zertal

Download or read book Israel's Holocaust and the Politics of Nationhood written by Idith Zertal and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2005-07-11 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The ghost of the Holocaust is ever present in Israel, in the lives and nightmares of the survivors and in the absence of the victims. In this compelling and disturbing analysis, Idith Zertal, a leading member of the new generation of revisionist historians in Israel, considers the ways Israel has used the memory of the Holocaust to define and legitimize its existence and politics. Drawing on a wide range of sources, the author exposes the pivotal role of the Holocaust in Israel's public sphere, in its project of nation building, its politics of power and its perception of the conflict with the Palestinians. She argues that the centrality of the Holocaust has led to a culture of death and victimhood that permeates Israel's society and self-image. For the updated paperback edition of the book, Tony Judt, the world-renowned historian and political commentator, has contributed a foreword in which he writes of Zertal's courage, the originality of her work, and the 'unforgiving honesty with which she looks at the moral condition of her own country'.

Trajectories of Memory

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Author :
Publisher : Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1527564843
Total Pages : 395 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (275 download)

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Book Synopsis Trajectories of Memory by : Beth Griech-Polelle

Download or read book Trajectories of Memory written by Beth Griech-Polelle and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2021-01-20 with total page 395 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume, which grew out of a conference of the same name held at Bowling Green State University in March 2006, represents new scholarly perspectives on the way in which the Holocaust is remembered in history, literary studies and theatre. It is a response to changing representations of the Holocaust across generations, disciplines, and in various cultural and national contexts. The contributions address the following questions: How do historians, artists, scholars, and teachers negotiate the language of the Holocaust as survivors die, leaving future generations to respond to the dictum: Never again? How do children and grandchildren of survivors, perpetrators, bystanders transmit the difficult legacy of the Holocaust in American, Israeli, French, German, Swiss and Austrian contexts while navigating feelings of transgenerational guilt or victimhood? How can we do justice to survivor testimony when the survivors can no longer speak directly or mediate the testimony to us? How does transferred and multiply mediated knowledge translate into meaningful artifacts for the next generations? The collection features an interview about interdisciplinarity within Holocaust studies conducted at the conference with keynote speakers Marianne Hirsch and Leo Spitzer. The articles in the first section explore the complex relationship between memory, oral history and historiography in cross-cultural contexts. The second section includes articles on texts by Cynthia Ozick, Thane Rosenbaum, Daniel Handler, W.G Sebald, Monika Maron, Stephan Wackwitz, Jonathan Foer, Art Spiegelman, Georges-Arthur Goldstein, Binjamin Wilkomirski, Elfriede Jelinek, Thomas Bernhard, Tim Blake Nelson, and Diane Samuel.

Symbols that Bind, Symbols that Divide

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Author :
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 3319054643
Total Pages : 227 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (19 download)

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Book Synopsis Symbols that Bind, Symbols that Divide by : Scott L. Moeschberger

Download or read book Symbols that Bind, Symbols that Divide written by Scott L. Moeschberger and published by Springer. This book was released on 2014-05-14 with total page 227 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This work explores the function of both divisive and uniting symbols in various conflict settings around the world. It takes a fairly broad perspective on what constitutes a symbol, to include objects such as flags, signs, language, and monuments, all of which convey conflicting meanings in a society affected by conflict. In addition, the authors include commemorations and other dynamic events that serve as a means for groups or individuals to connect with past generations, celebrate a heritage, and possibly express religiosity. In order to provide context for the nuances surrounding the symbols, there are brief historical overviews for each conflict featured in the volume. In each chapter, three issues are emphasized: the particular symbols that are divisive in the specific culture; how these symbols were used to perpetuate conflict; and how these symbols can be used or modified to bring unification. Contributions come from authors from around the world that have conducted empirical studies on intergroup relationships or have provided significant academic contributions in the area of symbols and collective memories represented in theoretical publications. Taken together, the contents of the volume provide a rich tapestry of intellectual analyses to the diverse selection of conflict settings from around the globe. In addition to the nine case studies, there is an introductory chapter, which grounds the discussion in current peace psychology literature as well as provides future directions. This volume is a valuable resource to many, as the focus on symbols can span many disciplines such as political science, anthropology, sociology, psychology, and art. Furthermore, it is of significant interest to all scholars and peace activists studying these various countries and their conflicts.

A Companion to Public Art

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Author :
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13 : 1119190800
Total Pages : 512 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (191 download)

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Book Synopsis A Companion to Public Art by : Cher Krause Knight

Download or read book A Companion to Public Art written by Cher Krause Knight and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2020-03-24 with total page 512 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Companion to Public Art is the only scholarly volume to examine the main issues, theories, and practices of public art on a comprehensive scale. Edited by two distinguished scholars with contributions from art historians, critics, curators, and art administrators, as well as artists themselves Includes 19 essays in four sections: tradition, site, audience, and critical frameworks Covers important topics in the field, including valorizing victims, public art in urban landscapes and on university campuses, the role of digital technologies, jury selection committees, and the intersection of public art and mass media Contains “artist’s philosophy” essays, which address larger questions about an artist’s body of work and the field of public art, by Julian Bonder, eteam (Hajoe Moderegger and Franziska Lamprecht), John Craig Freeman, Antony Gormley, Suzanne Lacy, Caleb Neelon, Tatzu Nishi, Greg Sholette, and Alan Sonfist.

Is Theory Good for the Jews?

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Author :
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 1781383340
Total Pages : 288 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (813 download)

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Book Synopsis Is Theory Good for the Jews? by : Bruno Chaouat

Download or read book Is Theory Good for the Jews? written by Bruno Chaouat and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2016 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Is Theory Good for the Jews? is the first attempt at exploring the cultural, intellectual, literary, and ideological roots of French engagement with the global and local upsurge of antisemitism in the 21st century. It is also the first attempt at analyzing the French responses to this new crisis. Chaouat endeavors to understand phenomena of repression, distortion, perversion, or outright denial, within the specific context of French intellectual and cultural history. By looking back to the 1960s and the emergence of a theoretical discourse on trauma, victims and suffering, the Holocaust and the Jews in literature, philosophy, and literary theory, he offer the first in-depth exploration of the cultural roots of French responses to the new antisemitism.