Along the Edge of Annihilation: The Collapse and Recovery of Life in the Holocaust Diary (Samuel and Althea Stroum Books xx) - Softcover

Patterson, David

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0295977833 ISBN 13: 9780295977836

Publisher: University of Washington Press, 1999

Synopsis

This extraordinary book is based on more than fifty diaries of Jewish Holocaust victims of all ages, written while the events described were actually taking place. Many of the writers did not survive. Patterson's book is unique not only in the number of diaries and original texts it examines but also in the questions it raises and in the approach it takes from within Jewish traditions and contexts.

Patterson has organized his book around a series of themes that lead to a deeper understanding of the meaning of these works for both their writers and their readers, affirming the Holocaust diary as a form of spiritual resistance. Throughout, he draws upon his impressive knowledge of Jewish texts, ancient and modern―Torah, Talmud, Midrash, Zohar, the medieval commentators, the Hasidic masters, and modern Jewish philosophers and thinkers.

In Along the Edge of Annihilation David Patterson illuminates the spiritual and physical devastation experienced by the Jews of Europe during the Holocaust, and shows how they chose life and the spirit of life in the midst of the Inferno.

About this title

From the Back Cover

This extraordinary book is based on more than fifty diaries of Jewish Holocaust victims of all ages, written while the events described were actually taking place. Many of the writers did not survive. Patterson's book is unique not only in the number of diaries and original texts it examines but also in the questions it raises and in the approach it takes from within Jewish traditions and contexts.

Patterson has organized his book around a series of themes that lead to a deeper understanding of the meaning of these works for both their writers and their readers, affirming the Holocaust diary as a form of spiritual resistance. Throughout, he draws upon his impressive knowledge of Jewish texts, ancient and modern -- Torah, Talmud, Midrash, Zohar, the medieval commentators, the Hasidic masters, and modern Jewish philosophers and thinkers.

In Along the Edge of Annihilation David Patterson illuminates the spiritual and physical devastation experienced by the Jews of Europe during the Holocaust. He shows how they chose life and the spirit of life in the midst of the Inferno.

Reviews

Patterson, director of the Judaic studies program at the University of Memphis, continues his deconstructionist study of the Holocaust diary genre begun in Sun Turned to Darkness: Memory and Recovery in the Holocaust Memoir (LJ 10/1/98). Patterson attempts to understand the face of evil by reading the words of those who suffered. He has examined an impressive collection of Holocaust memoirs and diaries, many of which have never appeared in English; his bibliography of primary sources may be worth the price of the book for some university libraries. The unrelenting voices of the victims are heavy going, though, and, unfortunately, Patterson is only interested in Jewish writers. Where are the other victims, such as homosexuals and Romany? Many of Patterson's themes can also be found in Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Letters and Papers from Prison (1953), but should Bonhoeffer be disqualified for being a Gentile? The reader must be ready for a heavy dose of Jewish theology and the realization that Patterson is essentially writing for a Jewish audience. Recommended for larger academic collections.ARandall L. Schroeder, Wartburg Coll. Lib., Waverly, IA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Washington Press
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0295977833
• ISBN 13: 9780295977836
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 311