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[CCBC-Net] Holocaust books (longish)
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From: Annette Birdsall <annette>
Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2006 09:22:04 -0400
I find none of the fiction texts you mention glib. They allow a bridge to understanding what the stark facts would have us run from. The story makes the lives lived more real than the history. Of The Devil's Arithmetic, we are mercifully allowed to live, but not forget. Thanks, Jane.
Annette
annette at flls.org 607/273-4074 x. 27 www.flls.org/youth
-----Original Message----- From: ccbc-net-bounces at ccbc.education.wisc.edu
[mailto:ccbc-net-bounces at ccbc.education.wisc.edu] On Behalf Of Ruth I. Gordon Sent: Monday, April 24, 2006 8:00 PM To: CCBC Net Subject: [CCBC-Net] Holocaust books (longish)
CCBC's current topic has turned my brain inside out and has brought many of my long held thoughts to he fore. One of my constant questions has been is there a need for fiction when there is so much excellent and understandable nonfiction in the first and third persons. For years, I have been concerned with Yolen's "Devil's Arithmetic". When I first read it, on its publication, I was indignant that she had made a fantasy of what was anything but. At the end of the novel, the girl wakes up from a long dream, one supposes, and is alive to return to her family at the Seder table. Contrast this to Aranka Siegel's "Upon the Head of the Goat," which ends with the doors of the freight train wagon slamming shut as she and her family--and many, many others begin their journey into the hell that was a concentration camp. One book, the autobiography, slams the doors on part of a life; the other, the fantasy fiction, opens the door in the same safe place and the unthreatened protagonist continues to live. Another book, this year, is a
"fable." Indeed....
As for "Rose Blanche," aside from provenance of original language (it was, I believe Italian, not French) contrast the "pretty" art, the gentle scenes with another "sorta" picture book by Birnbaum? Bernstein?, large paintings of a world outside the walls where life was a circus and life inside the walls where those within were part of the "show" of a world that looked on with eyes that did not see.
(Sorry, the title will not come to me.) Cynical? Ironic? Powerful.
Some people objected to "The Upstairs Room" because the Dutch farmer who risked his life to save two sisters used language that offended them. We can all cite to books which were considered objectionable
(as was "The Diary of a Young Girl") for various specious reasons and even attempts to remove the titles from libraries. It all reminds me of various trips I took to Dachau over the years. The first time we were there, the meat hooks still hung from the walls. The second time, they were gone and the whole place was spruced up. The third time, i was a lovely place for a spring picnic. I wonder if that is what some of these books do--make it a nice place for a picnic. As for some of the other places we visited... think about Nelly Sach's
"Oh, The Chimneys"
Why fiction? Why glib fiction that does not cause questions to be asked?
Big Grandma
_______________________________________________ CCBC-Net mailing list CCBC-Net at ccbc.education.wisc.edu Visit this link to read archives or to unsubscribe... http://ccbc.education.wisc.edu/mailman/listinfo/ccbc-net
Received on Tue 25 Apr 2006 08:22:04 AM CDT
Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2006 09:22:04 -0400
I find none of the fiction texts you mention glib. They allow a bridge to understanding what the stark facts would have us run from. The story makes the lives lived more real than the history. Of The Devil's Arithmetic, we are mercifully allowed to live, but not forget. Thanks, Jane.
Annette
annette at flls.org 607/273-4074 x. 27 www.flls.org/youth
-----Original Message----- From: ccbc-net-bounces at ccbc.education.wisc.edu
[mailto:ccbc-net-bounces at ccbc.education.wisc.edu] On Behalf Of Ruth I. Gordon Sent: Monday, April 24, 2006 8:00 PM To: CCBC Net Subject: [CCBC-Net] Holocaust books (longish)
CCBC's current topic has turned my brain inside out and has brought many of my long held thoughts to he fore. One of my constant questions has been is there a need for fiction when there is so much excellent and understandable nonfiction in the first and third persons. For years, I have been concerned with Yolen's "Devil's Arithmetic". When I first read it, on its publication, I was indignant that she had made a fantasy of what was anything but. At the end of the novel, the girl wakes up from a long dream, one supposes, and is alive to return to her family at the Seder table. Contrast this to Aranka Siegel's "Upon the Head of the Goat," which ends with the doors of the freight train wagon slamming shut as she and her family--and many, many others begin their journey into the hell that was a concentration camp. One book, the autobiography, slams the doors on part of a life; the other, the fantasy fiction, opens the door in the same safe place and the unthreatened protagonist continues to live. Another book, this year, is a
"fable." Indeed....
As for "Rose Blanche," aside from provenance of original language (it was, I believe Italian, not French) contrast the "pretty" art, the gentle scenes with another "sorta" picture book by Birnbaum? Bernstein?, large paintings of a world outside the walls where life was a circus and life inside the walls where those within were part of the "show" of a world that looked on with eyes that did not see.
(Sorry, the title will not come to me.) Cynical? Ironic? Powerful.
Some people objected to "The Upstairs Room" because the Dutch farmer who risked his life to save two sisters used language that offended them. We can all cite to books which were considered objectionable
(as was "The Diary of a Young Girl") for various specious reasons and even attempts to remove the titles from libraries. It all reminds me of various trips I took to Dachau over the years. The first time we were there, the meat hooks still hung from the walls. The second time, they were gone and the whole place was spruced up. The third time, i was a lovely place for a spring picnic. I wonder if that is what some of these books do--make it a nice place for a picnic. As for some of the other places we visited... think about Nelly Sach's
"Oh, The Chimneys"
Why fiction? Why glib fiction that does not cause questions to be asked?
Big Grandma
_______________________________________________ CCBC-Net mailing list CCBC-Net at ccbc.education.wisc.edu Visit this link to read archives or to unsubscribe... http://ccbc.education.wisc.edu/mailman/listinfo/ccbc-net
Received on Tue 25 Apr 2006 08:22:04 AM CDT
