Anne Frank and Etty Hillesum: Inscribing Spirituality and Sexuality - Hardcover

De Costa, Denise

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0813525497 ISBN 13: 9780813525495

Publisher: Rutgers University Press, 1998

Synopsis

Studies of Nazi persecution and destruction of Jews have to date largely been based on the accounts of men. And yet gender difference in Western society is so profound that women and men seem to have divergent experiences, speak different languages, and see and hear in dissimilar ways. Denise de Costa's book explores the significance of sex and gender differences in the construction of history and society-specifically, the Nazi genocide of Jews in World War II-by focusing on the writing of two Jewish women, Anne Frank and Etty Hillesum.

De Costa argues that although both of these writers have received much attention, little has been done to understand how the significant difference occasioned by both gender and Jewishness helps to define cultural or personal identity in relation to the Holocaust. De Costa uses a variety of psychoanalytic and feminist theories to approach the writing of Frank and Hillesum. Critiquing as well as employing the concepts of Julia Kristeva, Hélène Cixous, Luce Irigaray, and Simone de Beauvoir among others, she presents a detailed and rich discussion of each writer.

De Costa approaches Anne Frank largely from a psychoanalytical perspective that emphasizes the function of writing itself in the development of self-identity. For Etty Hillesum, she is more concerned with how writing establishes a philosophy, and a faith, that can entertain and is indeed based in doubleness and paradox. Her assessment of these two writers makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the Holocaust as a cultural and historical phenomenon, of the role of writing in the production and expression of gendered identity, and of the complex relation between women, writing, and culture.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

This book presents a rich, detailed discussion of the lives of two Jewish women writing during the Holocaust. By doing so, it explores the significance of sex and gender in the construction of history and society-specifically as it is formed by Nazi oppression during the World War II.

Although both Anne Frank and Etty Hillesum have received much attention, little has been done to understand how their otherness as women and Jews defined their cultural and personal identities. De Costa uses psychoanalytic and feminist theories toward that end, critiquing as well as employing the concept of Julia Kristeva, Helene Cixous, Luce Irigaray, and Simone de Beauvoir, among others.

De Costa approaches Anne Frank largely from a psychoanalytical perspective and emphasizes the act of writing as a function in the development of adolescent self-identity. For Etty Hillesum her focus is on how writing establishes a philosophy of life-a faith-that grows from a position of duality and paradox. The author's assessments of the written legacy of two victims of genocide makes a significant contribution to our understanding of how the Holocaust affected individual lives, of the role of writing in the production and expression of gender identity, and of women's complex relation to writing and culture.

About the Author:

DENISE DE COSTA is a researcher at the University for Humanist Studies in Utrecht. She is author of Silences That Speak: A Postmodern Reading of Feminine Writing. Irigaray, Kristeva, Lyotard

About this edition

• Publisher: Rutgers University Press
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0813525497
• ISBN 13: 9780813525495
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 275