1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910827299103321

Autore

Mack Michael <1969-2020.>

Titolo

Anthropology as memory : Elias Canetti's and Franz Baermann Steiner's responses to the Shoah / / Michael Mack

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Tübingen : , : Max Niemeyer Verlag, , 2001

ISBN

3-11-096596-8

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (240 pages)

Collana

Conditio Judaica

Classificazione

GN 3721

Disciplina

830.9/358

Soggetti

Anthropology in literature

Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) - Influence

Anthropology

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. [205]-226) and index.

Nota di contenuto

pt. 1. Elias Canetti : anthropology as Literature -- pt. 2. Franz Baermann Steiner : anthropology and totalitarian terror -- pt. 3. Style, law and danger.

Sommario/riassunto

This essay is offered particularly as a contribution to the relationship between theological and literary writings on the Holocaust. Franz Baermann Steiner's (1909-1952) detailed sociological work - he taught at the Department of Social Anthropology at Oxford and developed a sociology of danger that strongly influenced Mary Douglas, T. W. Adorno, Iris Murdoch, H.G. Adler and Julia Kristeva - contrasts with Canetti's emphasis on shock. Canetti's response to the Holocaust constitutes, in Dominick LaCapra's terms, an 'acting out' of trauma: a comparison between Canetti's »Masse und Macht« and the anthropological texts he uses brings to the fore his bleak depicton of humanity. By contrast, Steiner - in comparison to Canetti - lays emphasis on 'working through' the Holocaust, that is to say, on overcoming the paralysis of trauma by reflecting critically on values that might transform a damaged society. However, Canetti's depiction of humanity cannot entirely be seen in LaCapra's notion of 'acting out': for through the shock of 'acting out', Canetti nonetheless wants to bring about a 'working through'. Similarly, despite the 'working through' shock and trauma are dramatized in Steiner's poetry and his



aphoristic writings. Morever, Canetti thematizes an ethical impact on his readership in his aphorisms. In response to the Holocaust both writers advance a theory of power: what Steiner calls danger, Canetti attacks as death. Steiner's and Canetti's respective responses to the Holocaust consists in a critique of static ways of thought, affirming 'metamorphosis', and deconceptualized understanding of the world which connects linguistic fluidity to the everchanging contextualities of social and embodied life.