Topographies of Suffering
Buchenwald, Babi Yar, Lidice
1st Edition
Published on 1. August 2015
Book
Hardback
242 pages
978-1-78238-709-1 (ISBN)
Description
Commentary on memorials to the Holocaust has been plagued with a sense of "monument fatigue", a feeling that landscape settings and national spaces provide little opportunity for meaningful engagement between present visitors and past victims. This book examines the Holocaust via three sites of murder by the Nazis: the former concentration camp at Buchenwald, Germany; the mass grave at Babi Yar, Ukraine; and the razed village of Lidice, Czech Republic. Bringing together recent scholarship from cultural memory and cultural geography, the author focuses on the way these violent histories are remembered, allowing these sites to emerge as dynamic transcultural landscapes of encounter in which difficult pasts can be represented and comprehended in the present. This leads to an examination of the role of the environment, or, more particularly, the ways in which the natural environment, co-opted in the process of killing, becomes a medium for remembrance.
Reviews / Votes
"Jessica Rapson's book Topographies of Suffering: Buchenwald, Babi Yar, Lidice represents an important and innovative contribution to the burgeoning ?eld of memory studies... The result is a rich, multi-perspective study that is both strong in its comparative dimension and in its attention to interconnections." * Central Europe"Jessica Rapson has written a fascinating book... that can be immensely inspiring. One may not agree with her all the time, but this makes her discourse contribution even more valuable." * H-Soz-Kult
"This book is a clear interdisciplinary innovation in debates over memory. Making controversial and important new arguments, through very well-chosen and well-balanced case studies, it is a significant intervention in the field and should be widely read." * Robert Eaglestone, University of London
"...An interesting and original work, which... prompts us to reflect on memories as dynamic elements and presents the past as a challenging arena always in connection with the present." * Alexandre Dessingue, University of Stavanger
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Product notice
Library binding
Illustrations
20 Illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 236 mm
Width: 162 mm
Thickness: 22 mm
Weight
572 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-78238-709-1 (9781782387091)
DOI
10.3167/9781782387091
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
08/2015
1st Edition
Berghahn Books
€24.49
Available for download
E-Book
08/2015
1st Edition
Berghahn Books
€24.49
Available for download
Person
Jessica Rapson is a Lecturer in the Department of Culture, Media and Creative Industries at King's College London. She is co-editor, with Lucy Bond, of The Transcultural Turn: Interrogating Memory Between and Beyond Borders (de Gruyter 2014).
Content
List of Illustrations
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
PART I: BUCHENWALD
Chapter 1. Defining and Redefining Buchenwald
Chapter 2. Semprun's Buchenwald
Chapter 3. Buchenwald to New Orleans
PART II: BABI YAR
Chapter 4. Marginalized Memories
Chapter 5. Babi Yar's Literary Journey
Chapter 6. Kiev to Denver
PART III: LIDICE
Chapter 7. Between the Past and the Future
Chapter 8. Lidice Travels
Chapter 9. Twinning Lidice
Conclusion: Travelling to Remember
Bibliography
Index
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
PART I: BUCHENWALD
Chapter 1. Defining and Redefining Buchenwald
Chapter 2. Semprun's Buchenwald
Chapter 3. Buchenwald to New Orleans
PART II: BABI YAR
Chapter 4. Marginalized Memories
Chapter 5. Babi Yar's Literary Journey
Chapter 6. Kiev to Denver
PART III: LIDICE
Chapter 7. Between the Past and the Future
Chapter 8. Lidice Travels
Chapter 9. Twinning Lidice
Conclusion: Travelling to Remember
Bibliography
Index