Bøger af Lawrence L. Langer

The three works considered in Hierarchy and Mutuality in Paradise Lost, Moby-Dick and The Brothers Karamazov display a striking overlap in their concern with hierarchy and mutuality as parallel and often intersecting way of how human beings relate to each other and to divine forces in the universe. All three contain adversarial protagonists whose stature often commands admiration from audiences less ready to confront their motives and deeds than to be swayed by their verbal harangues. Why the quest for personal power should disturb the serenity of mutual love with such compelling force is an issue that Milton, Melville and Dostoevsky address with varying degrees of self-consciousness. In their texts the seeds of disaster seem to sprout in both spiritual and barren soil, sometimes nurtured by a hierarchy that gave them birth, at others in reaction against a hierarchy that would stifle their energy. The purpose of this study is to analyze the origins and the consequences of such tensions.

This book features 125 early paintings artist Samuel Bak made as a child prodigy in the Vilna Ghetto, works created throughout his early career, and paintings from the 21st-century.

"Candles have a ceremonial history in Judaism where their lighting accompanies holy days and is a ritualistic remembrance of loved ones who have passed. Additionally, the Ner Tamid, or Eternal Light, perpetually burns in the synagogue to represent the constant presence of God. The significance of the candle falters and the divine light dims, however, in the shadows cast by murderous world wars and numerous genocidal campaigns. This leads us to ask: what ritual of memorialization can possibly befit those who died in this way? How do we address the destructive nature of flames, manifested in the Greek etymology of the word Holocaust, in which holos means "whole" and kaustos denotes "burn," and by which everything is reduced to ash? In his essay, Lawrence L. Langer guides us through the ritual of remembering the Holocaust through Samuel Bak's paintings. Langer's words explicate the historical, religious, and cultural narratives that inform the artwork. As Langer turns our sight into insight, he unpacks the dense visual imagery of each work, verbalizes the inquiries both overt and covert, and provides the context that scaffolds our attempts to find answers. Inhabitants of a surrealistic space, Bak's candles are abused, damaged, melting, lifeless, and bathed in the somber afterglow of profound sorrow. The cylindrical candles morph into tree trunks, logs, chimneys, columns, missiles and other projectiles, exposing the frequent disorder at the heart of the supposed orderly progression of history. Amidst the anguish of his paintings, Bak allows for the notion that life can rise anew. If his visual universe is not saturated with emblems of hope, it certainly does not fall victim to despair. There is an instinctive need to restore to the candle the memory of its sanctified role"--

An exploration of the use of Holocaust themes in literature, memoirs, film, and painting. Among the authors that Langer examines are Primo Levi, Elie Wiesel and Art Spiegelman. He appraises the art of Samuel Bak, the Holocaust painter, and assesses the "Holocaust Project" by Judy Chicago.

Considers the hidden dialogue of generations, with the secret entanglement of different ages. It is indeed a playful cycle, whose playfulness, and even parody, becomes apparent to the beholder literate in Jewish memory and religious imagination. Bak's images are replete with allusions, citations, intimate references, playing with themes that are as intuitive as they are rooted in Jewish tradition.

In his latest series of paintings featuring images of cups, Samuel Bak proves once again that he is a master of the collapsing visual metaphor. Bak's art and the questions he raises are important for viewers today because he is overtly concerned with matters both of his own personal experience and those of the larger human condition.

Showcases the distinctive work of one of the most innovative artists. Samuel Bak's series of paintings, ""New Perceptions of Old Appearances"", is a tribute to the power of the metaphorical imagination. In this book - filled with color illustrations - the author shows the versatility and uniqueness of Bak's art.

A sustained analysis of the ways in which oral testimonies of survivors contribute to the understanding of the Holocaust. The book also aims to shed light on the forms and functions of memory as victims relive devastating experiences of pain, humiliation and loss.