Table Of ContentTHE HOLOCAUST SHORT STORY
The Holocaust Short Story is the only book devoted entirely to representations of the
Holocaust in the short story genre. The book highlights how the explosiveness of
the moment captured in each short story is more immediate and more intense, and
therefore recreates horrifying emotional reactions for the reader. The main themes
confronted in the book deal with the collapse of human relationships, the collapse
of the home, and the dying of time in the monotony and angst of surrounding
death chambers. The book thoroughly introduces the genres of both the short
story and Holocaust writing, explaining the key features and theories in the area.
Each chapter then looks at the stories in detail, including work by Ida Fink, Tadeusz
Borowski, Rokhl Korn, Frume Halpern, and Cynthia Ozick. This book is essential
reading for anyone working on Holocaust literature, trauma studies, Jewish studies,
Jewish literature, and the short story genre.
Mary Catherine Mueller, Ph.D., teaches Holocaust Literature at Southern
Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. Mueller has presented her work in the field
of Holocaust studies to scholars, educators, and human rights advocates around the
world. Her research and writings examine representations of the Holocaust in art,
culture, and memory; Jewish studies; anti-Semitism; and representations of the
Holocaust in literature.
THE HOLOCAUST
SHORT STORY
Mary Catherine Mueller
First published 2020
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an Informa business
© 2020 Mary Catherine Mueller
The right of Mary Catherine Mueller to be identified as author of this work
has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized
in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or
hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks,
and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing- in- Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Mueller, Mary Catherine, author.
Title: The Holocaust short story / Mary Catherine Mueller.
Description: New York, NY : Routledge, 2020. |
Includes bibliographical references and index. |
Identifiers: LCCN 2019028903 | ISBN 9780367339203 (hardback) |
ISBN 9780367339197 (paperback) | ISBN 9780429322846 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Holocaust, Jewish (1939–1945) in literature–History
and criticism. | Short stories. | Fink, Ida–Criticism and interpretation. |
Borowski, Tadeusz, 1922–1951–Criticism and interpretation. |
Ozick, Cynthia–Criticism and interpretation.
Classification: LCC PN56.H55 M84 2020 |
DDC 808.8/0358405318–dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019028903
ISBN: 978-0 -3 67-3 3920- 3 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0 -3 67-3 3919- 7 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-0 -4 29-3 2284- 6 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo
by Newgen Publishing UK
In memory of my father, Clem
In honor of my mother, Pamela
CONTENTS
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xvii
Introduction: the features of the Holocaust short story 1
1 The collapse of time: introduction to select themes of the
Holocaust short story 13
2 The collapse of silence: the role of silence in Ida Fink’s
short stories 21
3 The collapse of man – and then man created the anti- man: the
role of the Muselman figure in select short stories from Tadeusz
Borowski’s This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen 43
4 The collapse of relationships and home: the Nazi assault on
relationships, family, and home as portrayed in two Yiddish
Holocaust short stories 66
5 The collapse of motherhood: Cynthia Ozick’s short story
“The Shawl” 89
Conclusion 109
Bibliography 112
Index 119
PREFACE
For two long years [those who went to the crematorium] trod through
me, their eyes penetrating mine. And time there, on planet Auschwitz, was
not like time here. Each moment there revolved around the cogwheels of a
different time- sphere. Hell- years last longer than light- years.1
Like testimonies piecing together the horror and enormity of a crime, Holocaust
short stories individually convey a defining aspect of the Nazis’ assault on the
soul – the collapse of time and unraveling of human relations. In these short
stories, the collapse of time is connected with the collapse of the yet-t o-b e that
constitutes meaningful human relationships. To be in a relationship is to be there
for the sake of another, which opens up a response yet to be offered, a task yet
to be engaged. In the short story, we see this collapse of time in the form of the
explosiveness of a moment, which portrays wherever the relationship to another,
for the sake of another, is crushed by oppressive hands of hate and death that
yielded the Holocaust and “planet Auschwitz.” When addressing the short story,
Michael Kardos writes: “There must always be a necessary relationship between
a story’s form and its meaning, because a story’s form is part of what creates
meaning.”2 While some scholars address these authors and their stories, they tend
to approach these stories by situating them in conjunction with other literary
genres, rather than as their own genre. Even though there are countless Holocaust
short stories that address the collapse of time and relationships, this genre is one
of the least researched in Holocaust literature. This lack of critical response to
Holocaust short stories must be addressed because the various representations of
the Holocaust captured in the short story form are crucial to our understanding
of the Shoah — the time known as the Holocaust. The tight time frame of the
Holocaust short story accentuates its testimonial aspect, which in turn quickly
