At the Mind's Limits: The Holocaust in History, Theory, and Literature

This seminar offers a contemporary, interdisciplinary introduction to the study of the Holocaust. We will study this unthinkable atrocity in both its historical specificity and its relevance to the present. We will thus move between works of history, first-person accounts, fiction, poetry, film, critical theory, and philosophy, testing the limits and powers of divergent idioms and genres in the face of atrocity. Is poetry possible 'after Auschwitz'? What about philosophy? We will conclude by asking how the Holocaust relates to contemporary forms of racism and fascism and if it is possible to think about the Holocaust 'intersectionally.'