ENGL 210 - Honors English - Holocaust Literature
Section A: MWF 9:30—Roger Friedmann
Obtain Permission from the Honors Program in Leasure 007. Some may think that the study of literature would be a flawed approach to learning about history, but in this class we will examine the important role memoirs, novels and other literary accounts have played in shaping our cultural memory of the Holocaust when 6 million Jews in Europe were exterminated during the Second World War. We will look at the fictional techniques used not only by novelists but also by those who experienced the horrors first-hand when they wrote their memoirs, which will include Primo Levi’s Survival at Auschwitz and Elie Wiesel’s Night. We will also read the following novels about the Holocaust: Schindler’s List by Thomas Keneally and The Shawl by Cynthia Ozick. In addition, our study of the Holocaust will include reading Art Spiegelman’s comic book history of his father’s Holocaust experience, Maus. Students taking this class will be required to write reaction papers to three of the works they read and a research paper on a topic related to the Holocaust as well as participate in classroom discussion and in conferences with their instructor to discuss their research.
