English 243 - Poetry After Auschwitz

The influential German philosopher and social theorist Theodor Adorno famously said that to write poetry after Auschwitz is “barbaric.” In response, the Holocaust refugee Tuvia Ruebner once said, “it’s barbaric in the way that it’s barbaric that after a forest fire new trees grow.” Adorno was right, said Ruebner, but “poetry is so fundamental it bursts forth.” This course will explore twentieth and twenty-first century poetry that responds to or otherwise grapples with catastrophe, from the Armenian genocide to the Holocaust; from the Nakba to the Vietnam War; from the Great Purge to the Rwandan genocide; and beyond. We will examine the role of literature and the arts in bearing witness. We will ask what poetry produced in conditions of extremity can tell us about the circumstances out of which they emerge, and how poems can be an alternative to historical narrative. Readings might include works by Anna Akhmatova, Paul Celan, Mahmoud Darwish, Edmond Jabes, Rokhl Korn, Osip Mandelstam, Dan Pagis, Muriel Rukeyser, Nelly Sachs, Wislawa Szymborksa, Vahan Tekeyan, Mosab Abu Toha, Marina Tsvetaeva, Tristan Tzara, and others. Limited to 18 students. Spring semester. Visiting Lecturer Olidort.

How to handle overenrollment: Preference given to English majors.

Students who enroll in this course will likely encounter and be expected to engage in the following intellectual skills, modes of learning, and assessment: Close reading, independent research, oral presentation, and an emphasis on written work, both analytic and creative.