On Wednesday, November 9, 2011, Dr. Elizabeth Baer, Professor of English and Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Gustavus Adolphus College, spoke about how contemporary Jewish-American writers have created golem stories as a re-imagining of text-centered Jewish traditions by appropriating, adapting, revising and riffing on older golem legends. Such appropriation, deploying the imagination to seek a better understanding of human nature, is crucial in light of the Holocaust experience under the Nazis. The presentation included golems from novels, comic books, graphic narratives, and "The X-Files."
Dr. Baer's new book, The Golem Redux: From Prague to Post-Holocaust Fiction from Wayne State University Press, will appear in Spring 2012.
The lecture can be viewed on the Center's YouTube channel, CHGSumn.
