Non­fic­tion

Remem­ber­ing and Imag­in­ing the Holo­caust: The Chain of Memory

Christo­pher Bigsby
  • Review
By – March 30, 2012

Bigs­by explores the blurred line between mem­o­ry and the lit­er­a­ture of the Holo­caust ter­rain in what begins as an ele­gy to W. G. Sebald (Auster­litz, The Emi­grants), whose works walk the same line between fact and fic­tion. Bigs­by devotes a chap­ter apiece to a seem­ing­ly diverse group of writ­ers on Holo­caust themes, includ­ing Anne Frank, Pri­mo Levi, Arthur Miller, Tadeusz Borows­ki, and Elie Weisel. Along the way, Bigs­by explores such vital ques­tions as whose mem­o­ries are to be giv­en over for pos­ter­i­ty; what defines a true” mem­o­ry; who retains the right to pass on his or her mem­o­ries; and whether the integri­ty of any mem­o­ry, espe­cial­ly of such an unfor­get­table, inde­scrib­able set of expe­ri­ences such as the Holo­caust, can be tru­ly pre­served as it is record­ed. Indeed, Bigsby’s chap­ter on Anne Frank’s diary and the ram­i­fi­ca­tions of its var­i­ous iter­a­tions and inter­pre­ta­tions in book, stage, and film is worth the pur­chase of this book alone. 

Although a famil­iar­i­ty with some of the writ­ers described in Bigsby’s work will help the read­er, Bigsby’s own inti­mate knowl­edge of the texts he describes makes them acces­si­ble even to the novice. The book is not light read­ing, but extreme­ly valu­able to those who val­ue Jew­ish his­to­ry and its preservation.

Rab­bi Jef­frey Kobrin is the Prin­ci­pal of the North Shore Hebrew Acad­e­my in Great Neck, NY. In addi­tion to Ordi­na­tion from RIETS, he has a BA and MA in Eng­lish Lit­er­a­ture from Colum­bia Uni­ver­si­ty, where he is cur­rent­ly pur­su­ing a Ph.D. Rab­bi Kobrin lives in Riverdale, NY with his wife and four daughters.

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