Theodor Pelekanidis, “How to Write About the Holocaust: The Postmodern Theory of History in Praxis”
How to Write About the Holocaust is a contribution to ongoing debates in historiography and Holocaust studies. More specifically, it combines the theoretical framework that has developed in historiography in the last half a century with the demands of Holocaust representation.
The first part of the book analyzes the newest trends in theory of history, focusing especially on postmodernism, starting from the works of the American historian and theorist Hayden White and tracing the genealogy of the postmodern influence in history both from an epistemological and from a political perspective. The second part continues by incorporating these theoretical developments into specific written examples on the Holocaust.
By analyzing major works about it, including Saul Friedländer’s and Dan Stone’s histories of the Holocaust, the book attempts to answer questions like: what is the most appropriate way to write about the Holocaust and what can theory teach us about the practice of history? To conclude, the volume explores the connection between history and literature and asks if the distinction between fact and fiction has become outdated.
Table of Contents
Introduction Part 1: The Rise and Fall of Postmodernism in Historiography 1. Hayden White and theory of history 2. The Legacy of Metahistory: Epistemological radicalism and political anxieties for the future of historiography 3. Postmodernism and Afterward: Theory and Politics Part 2: Postmodernism in Praxis: Just another Holocaust History? 4. Hayden White and the Holocaust as a modernist event 5. The uniqueness-comparability argument: a postmodern approach 6. Beyond Historiography: the 21st century historical novel 7. Conclusion
Biography
Theodor Pelekanidis is a post-doc researcher at the Free University of Berlin, Germany. His research interests include theory and philosophy of history, history of ideas and historiography of the Holocaust. His latest publication in Clio: A Journal of Literature, History and the Philosophy of History is titled “Manifesting Practical Pasts: Legacies of a Declining Postmodernism”.
Critics´ Reviews
‘It is the argument of Theodoros Pelekanidis that, although postmodern historians and history theorists were, in the main, either ignored or critiqued by most professional, academic historians, ironically, in one of the most contentious historiographical “debates” ever – that of the Holocaust – postmodernist inspired historians played a major, influential role, a role which this book establishes, analyses and articulates with lucidity and persuasiveness. There is no other book quite like this original, wide ranging and insightful study which henceforth deserves to become essential reading in the area.’
Keith Jenkins, University of Chichester, UK
Pelekanidis’s book has an impressive range and pertinence for currently debated issues. His comments on the work of other scholars are pointed and useful. He brings together postmodern historiography and the Holocaust in a manner that situates the latter as a crucial test case for the viability of the former. As he sees it, the Holocaust has been a constant challenge for postmodernism, and it remains a guide for the directions historiography should take. He sets the stage by offering a lengthy discussion of Hayden White. Then he moves on to other figures who have responded in various ways to White’s work, at times taking it in diverse directions. Pelekanides also offers a suggestive, thought-provoking reading of Jonathan Littell’s imposing novel The Kindly Ones that raises the question of the interaction between history and literature and insightfully supplements the discussion of historians and theorists.
Dominick LaCapra, Cornell University, USA