In pursuing his argument, the author explores such diverse materials and themes as: the testimonies of Holocaust survivors; the works of such artists and writers as Charlotte Salomon, Christian Boltanski, and Armando; and the question of what it means to live in a house built by a jew who was later transported to the death camps. He shows that reenactment, as an artistic project, also functions as a critical strategy, one that, unlike historical methods requiring a mediator, speaks directly to us and lures us into the Holocaust.
We are then placed in the position of experiencing and being the subjects of that history. We are there, and history is present—but not quite. A confrontation with Nazism or with the Holocaust by means of a re-enactment takes place within the representational realm of art. Our access to this past is no longer mediated by the account of a witness, by a narrator, by the eye of a photographer. We do not respond to a re-presentation of the historical event, but to a presentation or performance of it, and our response is direct or firsthand in a different way. That different way of “keeping in touch” is the subject of inquiry that propels this study.
In pursuing his argument, the author explores such diverse materials and themes as: the testimonies of Holocaust survivors; the works of such artists and writers as Charlotte Salomon, Christian Boltanski, and Armando; and the question of what it means to live in a house built by a jew who was later transported to the death camps. He shows that reenactment, as an artistic project, also functions as a critical strategy, one that, unlike historical methods requiring a mediator, speaks directly to us and lures us into the Holocaust.
We are then placed in the position of experiencing and being the subjects of that history. We are there, and history is present—but not quite. A confrontation with Nazism or with the Holocaust by means of a re-enactment takes place within the representational realm of art. Our access to this past is no longer mediated by the account of a witness, by a narrator, by the eye of a photographer. We do not respond to a re-presentation of the historical event, but to a presentation or performance of it, and our response is direct or firsthand in a different way. That different way of “keeping in touch” is the subject of inquiry that propels this study.
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Caught by History: Holocaust Effects in Contemporary Art, Literature, and Theory
248![Caught by History: Holocaust Effects in Contemporary Art, Literature, and Theory](http://vs-images.bn-web.com/static/redesign/srcs/images/grey-box.png?v11.11.1)
Caught by History: Holocaust Effects in Contemporary Art, Literature, and Theory
248Hardcover(1)
Product Details
ISBN-13: | 9780804729154 |
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Publisher: | Stanford University Press |
Publication date: | 01/01/1998 |
Edition description: | 1 |
Pages: | 248 |
Product dimensions: | 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d) |