Literature of the Holocaust

During and in the aftermath of the dark period of the Holocaust writers across Europe and America sought to express their feelings and experiences through their writings. This book provides a comprehensive account of these writings through essays from expert scholars covering a wide geographic linguistic thematic and generic range of materials. Such an overview is particularly appropriate at a time when the corpus of Holocaust literature has grown to immense proportions and when guidance is needed in determining a canon of essential readings a context to interpret them and a paradigm for the evolution of writing on the Holocaust. The expert contributors to this volume who negotiate the literature in the original languages provide insight into the influence of national traditions and the importance of language especially but not exclusively Yiddish and Hebrew to the literary response arising from the Holocaust.