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Yom HaShoah Reflections on Eva Hoffman’s AFTER SUCH KNOWLEDGE (A Guest Post by Ellen Cassedy)

by Erika Dreifus on
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As we approach Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day), author Ellen Cassedy shares reflections on an influential book in this guest post.

Remembering the Holocaust with Eva Hoffman

by Ellen Cassedy

“What meanings does the Holocaust hold for us today – and how are we going to pass on those meanings to subsequent generations?” These are the questions Eva Hoffman poses in her courageous book, After Such Knowledge: Memory, History, and the Legacy of the Holocaust.

Hoffman’s acclaimed memoir, Lost in Translation, recounts her emigration from Poland at age 13 with her parents, who were Holocaust survivors, and her struggles to adjust to her new home in Canada. Published 15 years later, in 2004, After Such Knowledge is less well-known, but it made a deep impression on me when I first read it. As we observe Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, I’ve been rereading it and finding it as provocative and valuable as ever.

The book is a multi-faceted meditation. It draws on Hoffman’s personal experiences and those of other children of survivors; her extensive reading in the fields of psychology, culture, and politics; and her years of conversations with Poles and Germans of all ages.

I discovered the book at the exact moment that I myself was embarking on a journey to the Old World – to Lithuania, the land of my Jewish forebears. (more…)

Jewish Literary Links for Shabbat

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled
Photo Credit: Reut Miryam Cohen
  • “The Story,” one of the stories in Edith Pearlman’s Binocular Vision that I found most affecting, has recently been posted online.
  • Coming soon at the Sixth Street Synagogue in NYC: the wordSpoke Poetry Festival.
  • Mazel tov to Herman Wouk on his latest book deal!
  • Jonathan Kirsch weighs in on Peter Beinart’s new book.
  • Looking ahead to next week: My Machberet will welcome guest blogger Ellen Cassedy. Get to know the author of We Are Here: Memories of the Lithuanian Holocaust before her “appearance” here.
  • Last call for my Sunday afternoon event with the City Congregation for Humanistic Judaism here in NYC. Perhaps I’ll see you there?
  • And as the holiday draws to a close, D.G. Myers considers Passover in fiction.

    • Shabbat shalom!

    Jewish Literary Links for Shabbat

    by Erika Dreifus on
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    Photo Credit: Reut Miryam Cohen
  • Caught up a few days ago with a terrific new story by Joan Leegant, “Displaced Persons,” that is set in Israel.
  • And speaking of stories, a new issue of JewishFiction.net is now available.
  • Editors and agents may now apply for the Jerusalem International Book Fair Fellowship.
  • MyJewishLearning.com is looking for a full-time Editorial Assistant.
  • Further piquing my considerable interest: Janet Maslin’s review of Jonathan Sarna’s When General Grant Expelled the Jews.
  • New Jersey Jewish News spotlights the Jewish Plays Project.
  • And a couple of literary notes of my own: my review of Nathan Englander’s new story collection and a bit about my latest poem, “Jerusalem Dream.”

    • Shabbat Shalom and Chag Pesach Sameach!

    Jewish Literary Links for Shabbat

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled
    Photo Credit: Reut Miryam Cohen
  • This upcoming (April 17) free session at the New York Public Library may assist your research: “This lecture will describe the wealth of resources available at institutions throughout the New York area for doing Jewish family history research. The talk will be geared to beginners and intermediate researchers, and will focus on those families whose ancestors who came to the U.S. starting with the great migration which began in the late 1880s.”
  • Historian Sarah Maza takes a closer look at Irene Nemirovsky’s Suite Francaise: “Némirovsky’s vivid fiction-in-real-time – not to mention the author’s life story – has a great deal to offer to undergraduates studying the period, although some caveats apply.”
  • Two weeks from Sunday I’ll be speaking at NYC’s City Congregation for Humanistic Judaism. My topic: “MY GERMAN-JEWISH GRANDPARENTS AND THIRD-GENERATION PREOCCUPATIONS: History, Healing, and Happily Ever After?”
  • “The International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation is calling artists to submit works inspired by the deeds of Raoul Wallenberg and their legacy. Selected works will be published in an e-book compilation created in commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of Raoul Wallenberg’s birthday. This call is open for artists working within the fields of creative writing, drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, photography and mixed media. The application deadline is Monday, May 16, 2012.” No application fee; payment info not indicated.
  • Inspired by Rabbi Lawrence Hoffman, Rabbi Karen Perolman shares some initial titles that she considers to be “great Jewish books.”
  • Tablet situates Etgar Keret’s latest story collection in the history of Israeli literature–and the history of Keret’s.

    • Shabbat shalom!

    Jewish Literary Links for Shabbat

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled
    Photo Credit: Reut Miryam Cohen
  • Adding this to my TBR list: Shani Boianjiu’s The People of Forever Are Not Afraid. According to Shelf Awareness, the novel “follows three teenage friends from the same Israeli village as they’re conscripted into the army, an experience that alters their lives in irrevocable and unpredictable ways.” The book will be out in September.
  • Leah Vincent explains why she is shopping around her “ex-frum” memoir.
  • On The Whole Megillah, Barbara Krasner interviews poet Elana Bell. (Krasner encountered Bell at a recent conference, where Bell was part of a panel titled “Not Your Bubbe’s Poetry.”)
  • I tried to stay open-minded reading this article. Until I got to the totally un-qualified use of the word “Nakba.”
  • It’s hard to know quite how to respond to these statements from Israeli author A.B. Yehoshua. Except to say that I prefer to believe in Klal Yisrael.

    • Shabbat shalom!