The Holocaust as Culture

Contents: 1. Imre Kertesz and the Post Auschwitz condition/Thomas Cooper. 2. A conversation with Imre Kertesz/Imre Kertesz and Thomas Cooper. 3. The Holocaust as culture/Imre Kertesz.

Reflecting on his experiences of the Holocaust and the Soviet occupation of Hungary following the Second World War, Kertesz likens the ideological machinery of National Socialism to the oppressive routines of life under communism. He also discusses the complex publication history of Fatelessness, his acclaimed novel about the experiences of a Hungarian child deported to Auschwitz and the lack of interest with which it was initially met in Hungary due to its failure to conform to the Communist governments simplistic history of the relationship between Nazi occupiers and Communist liberators. The underlying theme in the dialogue between Kertesz and Cooper is the difficulty of mediating the past and creating models for interpreting history, and how this challenges ideas of self. (jacket)