CALL EHRI-AT | Holocaust Literature and Ego Documents
A conference of the Center for Jewish Studies of Graz University in cooperation with the Vienna Wiesenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies in the framework of EHRI-AT
December 11-12, 2023 | Graz, Austria | Deadline for submissions: 15 July 2023
Writing about the Holocaust has been shaped from the beginning by considerations of form, of the limits of language and the medium itself, and of the (im)possibilities of transmitting knowledge to future generations.
So what are we talking about when we talk about Holocaust literature? And how can we discuss and analyse literary texts as well as ego documents together?
The concept of “Holocaust literature” has received increasing attention in literary studies in recent years, which shows in various attempts at definition. These focused on questions of genre as well as on different time levels, themes, and experiences. Questions were raised about textual and narrative structures, and a certain canon of texts and authors emerged.
In Holocaust Studies, not least in the wake of Saul Friedländer’s call for an integrated history of the Holocaust, ego documents increasingly became the focus of research. This involved questions of agency, experience as well as factuality.
The conference “Holocaust Literature and Ego Documents” takes up the various debates and aims to bring literary and historical perspectives on Holocaust literature and ego documents into conversation with one another. In addition to an inventory of collections of life-history and literary texts in and about Austria, the focus will be on questions of overlap and demarcation as well as on methodological approaches and the significance of Holocaust literature and ego documents for Holocaust research.