Contrapuntal Humanism : The Anachronism of Post-Holocaust Diasporic Writing

An implicit assumption in the field of Holocaust Studies is the enduring importance of humanism, at times framed as a commitment to a universal humanity (note, for example, the universalist solicitation presumed in the familiar dictum or imperative responding to the events of the Holocaust: “never again”). Almost counter-intuitively, considering the tremendous destruction wrought by the Holocaust and other acts of violence, much post-Holocaust literature likewise nonetheless cleaves to a belief in an ideal of humanism, even as it simultaneously exposes its fragility, paradoxes and limitations. Peripatetic literary and cultural critic Edward Said’s evocative use of the term “contrapuntal” provides a productive point of departure for charting the anachronistic relationship between history, time, and form characteristic of post-Holocaust Jewish diasporic writing beyond the traditional Holocaust literary canon, as demonstrated in aspects of the fiction and non-fiction writing of Hans Keilson and H.G. Adler, two lesser-known German-language writers and Jewish survivors in the diaspora.Non UBCUnreviewedFacult