Holocaust

occupation / innovator as

university teacher

historian

nationality

American

cause of death

natural causes

is shaped by current concerns. Where it used to be inquired into with the language of 'power' and 'interests' and 'ideology' today it is approached with an impoverished and depoliticized language of 'concerns' and 'memory'.

Peter Novick's seminal studdy, The Holocaust in American Life, . .. Novick's central analytical category is 'memory.' Currently all the rage in the ivory tower, 'memory' is surely the most impoverished concept to come down the academic pike in a long time. With the obligatory nod to Maurice Halbwachs, Novick aims to demonstrate how 'current concerns' shape 'Holocaust memory.' Once upon a time, dissenting intellectuals deployed robust political categories sucha as 'power' and 'interests,' on the one hand, and 'ideology,' on the other. Today, all that remains is the bland, depoliticized language of 'concerns' and 'memory.'

Peter NovickThinkers

Peter Novick