Daniel Mendelsohn, Charles Ranlett Flint Professor of Humanities at Bard College, draws upon his experience researching, writing, and then touring The Lost around the world. He explores the meaning of the Holocaust as both a historical and a literary event as time passes and the event belongs to a new generation of writers, and readers, who no longer have direct contact with the event itself. A bit provocatively, he suggests that the “never forget” injunction is, essentially, anti-literary: that literature–because it forges a large, manageable narrative out of historical events for cultures to use–has to “forget” the individual stories, smoothing and shaping particular memories into the parables we need to live by.
This is event is part of the Think Forum Lecture Series.
This event is free and open to the public. Registration required.