Witnessing, Memory, Poetics

HELEN FINCH is Professor of German Literature at the University of Leeds.

• Introduction: The Adler-Sebald Intertextual Relationship as Paradigm for Intergenerational Literary TestimonyThe Connections between H. G. Adler and W. G. Sebald, from a Personal PerspectiveMemory's Witness-Witnessing MemoryWriting the Medusa: A Documentation of H. G. Adler and Theresienstadt in W. G. Sebald's LibraryPoetics of Bearing Witness: H. G. Adler and W. G. Sebald"Schmerzensspuren der Geschichte(n)": Memory and Intertextuality in H. G. Adler and W. G. Sebald"Der Autor zwischen Literatur und Politik": H. G. Adler's "Engagement" and W. G. Sebald's "Restitution"Memory, Witness, and the (Holocaust) Museum in H. G. Adler and W. G. SebaldHistory, Emotions, Literature: The Representation of Theresienstadt in H. G. Adler's Theresienstadt 1941-1945, Antlitz einer Zwangsgemeinschaft and W. G. Sebald's AusterlitzThe Kafkaesque in H. G. Adler's and W. G. Sebald's Literary HistoriographiesGenerational Conflicts, Generational Affinities: Broch, Adorno, Adler, Sebald"Der verwerfliche Literaturbetrieb unserer Epoche": H. G. Adler and the Postwar West German "Literary Field"AfterwordBibliographyNotes on the ContributorsIndex

In the most illuminating essays, the intertextual relationship that connects Adler to Sebald serves as a springboard to a more expansive, contextual discussion of universal issues of postwar German literature. . . . [A]ll the essays provide insightful analyses of the works of these two signi?cant writers. While this volume would be of particular interest to scholars of postwar literature, the essays in sections 2 and 3 are particularly appealing to those interested in broader themes such as the relationships between history and literature, the role of the artist in society, the nature of trauma narrative, and questions of authenticity.