The Book of the Polish, Czech, and Slovak fiction about the Holocaust (Handbook of Polish, Czech, Slovak and Holocaust Fiction) aims to increase the visibility of fiction from Central and Eastern Europe. This is the first comprehensive work that seeks to increase the visibility of the literary productions of the countries in which the Holocaust took place in international academic and public discourse. It contains more than 100 entries, which illustrate the topic and reflect the characteristic fictional features of each work and its significance for academic discourse and a broader reception in the country of origin and abroad.
The publication results from the cooperation of a Polish-Czech-German team of scientists who have been cooperating for a decade. Slavicists and comparative literature researchers decided to examine East-Central European literature on the Holocaust and the persecution of Jews during World War II, both chronologically and aesthetically. Their main motive was to increase the visibility and show the universality of these kinds of literature in the academic representation of the Holocaust in art.
Before now, international attention was given mainly to authors from the group of emigrants due to the lack of language barriers (for example, the award given to Jerzy Kosinski for his The Painted Bird, 1965), while Central European local book production was less visible, as shown in the analysis of publications.
The authors first note that one of the critical questions that the editorial board had to answer is which authors to include in the publication. The ongoing debate on the post-colonial destruction of binary identity patterns also affects literature and its creators. Therefore, they decided to have authors of both Jewish and non-Jewish descent and portray different ways of perceiving and narrative styles. They also focus on works originally published in Polish, Czech, or Slovak. This is because East-Central European literature is little recognized and remains unknown mainly in translation. This leads to the erroneous assumption that Eastern Europe did not begin to remember the Holocaust until 1989. For example, American scholars often consider Jewish culture in Europe (especially in post-communist states) as virtual or artificial. One reason may be a lack of knowledge about the cultural and political context, which has undergone fundamental changes quickly.
Therefore, the publication aims to help readers understand the main factors influencing literary production in pre-communist and post-communist countries by naming historical milestones. The authors note that the literature on the Holocaust still exists. The latest literature cannot be read as witness literature. However, according to researchers, third-generation literary works show how important it is to use fiction to get an idea of the past and add new perspectives on the power of the art that “translates” the generation gap into its imagination.
The editors note that they do not want to judge literature but give readers a compilation of Holocaust fiction from the last eight decades and invite them to read, compare, and draw their conclusions. The publication will address the academic and general public interested in representing the Holocaust, anti-Semitism, and the Second World War in literature and art. In addition to prose, it also focuses on poetry and plays from 1943 to 2018. An introduction to historical events and cultural developments in Poland, Czechoslovakia, the Czech and Slovak Republics, and their impact on artistic work helps contextualize these works’ background. The publication results from the long-term scientific cooperation of experts from four countries and several dozen academic centers. The book is a novelty, as it was published in June this year. Potential readers may also be interested in the fact that (although the printed version is charged), the electronic version is available in open access for free download here.
