Tolerance Discourse and Young Adult Holocaust Literature: Engaging Difference and Identity

215 Pages·2017·2.051 MB·English

by  Rachel Dean-Ruzicka

Tolerance Discourse and Young Adult
Holocaust Literature
What, exactly, does one mean when idealizing tolerance as a solution to
cultural conflict? This book examines a wide range of young adult texts,
both fiction and memoir, representing the experiences of young adults
during WWII and the Holocaust. Author Rachel Dean-Ruzicka argues for a
progressive reading of this literature. Tolerance Discourse and Young Adult
Holocaust Literature contests the modern discourse of tolerance, encourag-
ing educators and readers to more deeply engage with difference and iden-
tity when studying Holocaust texts. Young adult Holocaust literature is an
important nexus for examining issues of identity and difference because it
directly confronts systems of power, privilege, and personhood. The text
delves into the wealth of material available and examines over forty books
written for young readers on the Holocaust and, in the last chapter, neo-
Nazism. The book also looks at representations of non-Jewish victims, such
as the Romani, the disabled, and homosexuals. In addition to critical anal-
ysis of the texts, each chapter reads the discourses of tolerance and cosmo-
politanism against present-day cultural contexts: ongoing debates regarding
multicultural education, gay and lesbian rights, and neo-Nazi activities. The
book addresses essential questions of tolerance and toleration that have
not been otherwise considered in Holocaust studies or cultural studies of
children’s literature.
Rachel Dean-Ruzicka holds a PhD in American Culture Studies from
Bowling Green State University. She is a Lecturer of Writing and Commu-
nication at Georgia Institute of Technology. Her articles have appeared in
Children’s Literature and Education, ImageText, and Female Rebellion in
Young Adult Dystopian Fiction.
Children’s Literature and Culture
Jack Zipes, Founding Series Editor
Philip Nel, Current Series Editor
For a full list of titles in this series, please visit www.routledge.com
Children’s Literature and the Posthuman
Animal, Environment, Cyborg
Zoe Jaques
Justice in Young Adult Speculative Fiction
A Cognitive Reading
Marek C. Oziewicz
Global Perspectives on Death in Children’s Literature
Edited by Lesley D. Clement and Leyli Jamali
Embodying Gender and Age in Speculative Fiction
A Biopsychosocial Approach
Derek J. Thiess
The Early Reader in Children’s Literature and Culture
Theorizing Books for Beginning Readers
Edited by Jennifer Miskec and Annette Wannamaker
Children’s Literature and Culture of the First World War
Edited by Lissa Paul, Rosemary Ross Johnston, and Emma Short
The Big Smallness
Niche Marketing, the American Culture Wars,
and the New Children’s Literature
Michelle Ann Abate
The Future of the Nineteenth-Century Dream-Child
Fantasy, Dystopia, Cyberculture
Amy Billone
Gendered Identities
Critical Readings of Gender in Children’s and Young Adult Literature
Edited by Tricia Clasen and Holly Hassel
Tolerance Discourse and Young Adult Holocaust Literature
Engaging Difference and Identity
Rachel Dean-Ruzicka
Tolerance Discourse and
Young Adult Holocaust
Literature
Engaging Difference and Identity
Rachel Dean-Ruzicka
First published 2017
by Routledge
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and by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2017 Taylor & Francis
The right of Rachel Dean-Ruzicka 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
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from the publishers.
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without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
CIP data has been applied for.
ISBN: 978-1-138-82033-3 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-74394-3 (ebk)
Typeset in Sabon
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For Matt, who makes all things possible
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Contents
List of Figures ix
Series Editor’s Foreword xi
Image and Lyric Permissions xiii
Acknowledgments xv
Introduction 1
1 Finding the Other in Anne Frank 20
2 The Complexity of Jewish Lives 50
3 Recognizing All the “Lives Unworthy of Living” 82
4 Good Nazis and German Volk as Victims 117
5 Neo-Nazi Values and Community Response 155
Epilogue 179
References 185
Index 195
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List of Figures
2.1 Vladek’s arrival home (67). Maus Graphic Novel Panels. 77
4.1 An injured Theo explains his experiences to
his sister Helena and his mother (32). A Family
Secret Graphic Novel Panel. 131
4.2 Readers see a flashback to Theo’s first experience
with the Einsatzgruppen (32). A Family Secret
Graphic Novel Panel. 132
4.3 The Einsatzgruppen in action (40). The Search
Graphic Novel Panels. 133