Dan Leshem, Associate Director of Research, to Teach Course on Holocaust in Literature and Arts

<p>[[{"fid":"6215","view_mode":"default","fields":{"format":"default","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":"","field_tags[und]":""},"type":"media","attributes":{"class":"media-element file-default"},"link_text":null}]]From <em>Schindler’s List</em> to the paintings of Samuel Bak (left), thousands of works of art and writing attempt to shed light on – and giving meaning to – the tragedies of genocide. The many artworks, films and books that emerged from the Holocaust are the topic of a course to be taught next semester by Dan Leshem, USC Shoah Foundation associate director of research.</p><p>During the spring 2015 semester at the University of Southern California, Leshem will teach a course in the comparative literature department titled “The Shoah (Holocaust) in Literature and the Arts.” The course will focus on artistic representations of the Holocaust created during and after World War II by survivors, witnesses and other artists. These artistic works will be considered alongside theoretical texts that will frame the ethical and representational limits of such endeavors.</p><p>Selected films will include <em>Night and Fog</em> by Alain Resnais; <em>As Seen Through These Eyes</em> by <a href="https://sfi.usc.edu/profiles/hilary-helstein">Hilary Helstein</a>, and <em>The Act of Killing</em> by <a href="https://sfi.usc.edu/news/2014/08/6024-making-act-killing">Joshua Oppenheimer</a> (which concerns the genocide in Indonesia). The class will also read texts from Rabbi Nathan Hanover and Sigmund Freud, and watch testimonies from the Visual History Archive.</p><p>The course will also include guest lectures from a genocide survivor, visual and performing artists and a writer who will share their perspectives on giving voice.</p>