Expressing
the Inexpressible
Tuesday 2 March 2004 8.30pm
Aharon Appelfeld, Chair: Risa Domb
In association with the Embassy of Israel
Aharon Appelfeld’s work is among the most profound literary
explorations of the Holocaust and has met with great international, critical
and popular acclaim.
In this session, Aharon Appelfeld spoke movingly about the role of fiction in
shaping our image of the Holocaust. He captivated the audience, leaving all
present humbled, as he explored some of the major themes of his work: the
recovery of childhood and memory, the creation of place, and the religious
stance of the Holocaust writer.
Aharon
Appelfeld was born
in Romania
and sent to a concentration camp at the age of eight. He escaped and, after
three years in hiding, joined the Russian army. In 1946 he emigrated
to Palestine.
His thirty works of fiction include Badenheim
1939 (1981), The Immortal Bartfuss (1988)
and The Conversation (1998). He was awarded the Israel Prize for
Literature in 1983.
Risa Domb is
Director of the Centre for Modern Hebrew Studies at Cambridge University and
author of Home Thoughts from Abroad (1995).
