Children of Job

by Berger, Alan L.

• ISBN13: 9780791433577
• ISBN10: 0791433579
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1997-06-01
• Publisher: State Univ of New York Pr

Summary

An original contribution to Holocaust studies that demonstrates the theological and psychosocial issues emerging in novels and films by sons and daughters of survivors. Focusing on the novels and films of daughters and sons of Holocaust survivors, this book sheds light on the relationship between the Holocaust and contemporary Jewish identity. It is the first systematic analysis of a body of work that introduces a new generation of Jewish writers and filmmakers, as well as revealing how the survivors' legacy is shaping -- and being shaped by -- the second generation. Carefully studying the work of these contemporary children of Job, Berger demonstrates how the offspring, like the survivors themselves, represent a variety of orientations to Judaism, have significant theological differences, and share the legacy of the Shoah. Berger clearly shows that members of the second generation participate fully in both the American and Jewish dimensions of their identity and articulates distinctive second-generation theological and psychosocial themes. "It is the most comprehensive analysis of material on the second generation. Alan Berger shows an excellent, comprehensive knowledge of American literary work on the subject as well as the mainstream major critical analysis of the material". -- Yaffa Eliach, author/creator of the Tower of Life at the U.S. Holocausts Memorial Museum

Table of Contents

Foreword	vii	(2)
Elie Wiesel
Acknowledgments	ix
Chapter 1 Introduction	1	(12)
The Second-Generation Witness: Inheriting the Holocaust	1	(3)
Particularism and Universalism	4	(1)
Children of Survivors and Children of Job	5	(3)
Theological Sequelae	8	(1)
Universal Questions	8	(2)
The Search for Tikkun	10	(3)
Chapter 2 From Pathology to Theology: The Emergence of the Second-Generation Witness	13	(22)
The American Second Generation: A Brief History	16	(3)
A New Generation of Jewish Writers and Filmmakers	19	(2)
Post-Auschwitz Covenant Theology	21	(2)
Elie Wiesel and the Additional Covenant	23	(2)
Irving Greenberg and the Voluntary Covenant	25	(3)
Emil L. Fackenheim and the Search for a Post-Aushwitz Tikkun Olam	28	(3)
Richard L. Rubenstein: "God after the Death of God"	31	(4)
Chapter 3 Second-Generation Novels and Short Stories: Jewish Particularism	35	(52)
Damaged Goods	37	(11)
Summer Long-a-Coming	48	(11)
Maus	59	(12)
Short Stories: A Biographical Note	71	(1)
Stories of an Imaginary Childhood and While The Messiah Tarries	72	(3)
Dancing at the Club Holocaust and Forms of Captivity and Escape	75	(4)
Elijah Visible	79	(5)
Conclusion	84	(3)
Chapter 4 Second-Generation Novels and Short Stories: Jewish Universalism	87	(42)
The Flood	88	(7)
White Lies	95	(15)
Dancing on Tisha B'Av and Winter Eyes	110	(16)
Conclusion	126	(3)
Chapter 5 Second-Generation Documentaries and Docudramas: Jewish Particularism	129	(30)
Kaddish	131	(5)
A Generation Apart	136	(4)
Breaking the Silence	140	(6)
Half-Sister, Everything's For You, and In Memory	146	(4)
Angst	150	(2)
The Docudramas: The Dr. John Haney Sessions and Open Secrets	152	(5)
Conclusion	157	(2)
Chapter 6 Second-Generation Documentaries and Docudramas: Jewish Universalism	159	(24)
As If It Were Yesterday	162	(6)
Weapons Of The Spirit	168	(5)
So Many Miracles	173	(4)
Voices From The Attic	177	(4)
Conclusion	181	(2)
Chapter 7 Whither The Future?	183	(8)
Working through the Holocaust	184	(3)
Riders towards the Dawn	187	(1)
Children of Job and Covenantal Judaism	187	(4)
Notes	191	(24)
Index	215