Monday, February 23, 2004 - 4:15pm
Maginnes Hall
Author to discuss symbols of Holocaust-- Oren Baruch Stier, professor of religious studies at Florida International University, will speak at 4:15 p.m. Monday in Maginnes Hall. Stier will discuss “Symbolizing the Holocaust: Maus and Other Projects” in a talk in Room 480 that is free and open to the public. The author of Committed to Memory: Cultural Mediations of the Holocaust, Stier is currently a fellow at the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Representations of the Holocaust often rely on symbols to communicate their intended messages in a shorthand of signification. In many cases, these symbols originate in the visual and metaphoric vocabulary of the Nazi era, though they frequently evolve and assume lives of their own beyond their use and application within the context of World War II. These icons become the building blocks of Holocaust memory. In his lecture, Stier will discuss some of these contemporary images and applications, with special reference to Art Spiegelman's Maus volumes, a Pulitzer Prize-winning portrayal of the Holocaust in cartoon form.
Sponsored by the Berman Center, the Littauer Foundation, the Chaplain's Office and Religion Studies Department