The Longest Shadow

Distinguished literary scholar Geoffrey H. Hartman, himself forced to leave Germany at age nine, collects his essays, both scholarly and personal, that focus on the Holocaust. Hartman contends that although progress has been made, we are only beginning to understand the horrendous events of 1933 to 1945. The continuing struggle for meaning, consolation, closure, and the establishment of a collective memory against the natural tendency toward forgetfulness is a recurring theme. The many forms of response to the devastationNtilde;from historical research and survivorsOtilde; testimony to the novels, films, and monuments that have appeared over the last fifty yearsNtilde;reflect and inform efforts to come to grips with the past, despite events (like those at Bitburg) that attempt to foreclose it.

Geoffrey H. Hartman is Sterling Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Yale University.