Holocaust Impiety in Literature, Popular Music and Film

Matthew Boswell is a Research Fellow in the School of English at the University of Leeds, UK

"'Holocaust piety' is the urge to be silenced by the genocide, to mystify it. In contrast, Boswell, one of a new generation of Holocaust scholars, writes about how the Holocaust has been used (and possibly misused) in culture from avant-garde poetry to the Ramones and Joy Division to Quentin Tarantino. These insightful 'impieties' tell us about the Holocaust and ourselves." -Robert Eaglestone, Professor of Contemporary Literature and Thought, Royal Holloway, Times Higher Education 'This book is highly recommended for those interested in the most recent developments in the discussion about Holocaust representability. The thesis of Holocaust impiety proposed by Boswell brings an important contribution to the field of Holocaust memory and representation, and situates this author within a new generation of scholars who are unafraid to pose challenging and worthwhile questions.' - Diana Popescu, University of Southampton, Journal of History and Cultures

• Introduction PART I: POETRY Sylvia Plath, Ariel (1965) and Other Poems W. D. Snodgrass, The Fuehrer Bunker (1995) PART II: POPULAR MUSIC American Punk: Ramones, Ramones (1976) English Punk: Sex Pistols, Never Mind the Bollocks , Here's the Sex Pistols (1977) and The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle (1979) Post-Punk: Joy Division, Closer (1980) Post-Punk Rock: Manic Street Preachers, The Holy Bible (1994) PART III: FILM Night and Fog (Alain Resnais, 1955) Shoah (Claude Lanzmann, 1985) The Grey Zone (Tim Blake Nelson, 2001) Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino, 2009) Index