UNIT 6: Myth of the Self
Memoir and Elie Wiesel's Night
Memoir and Elie Wiesel's Night
Arrival of a Transport, Theresienstadt Ghetto
Felix Bloch (1942-1944) |
Now Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him. Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” -- Genesis 4:8-9 (KJV) View of My Birthplace, William Pachner (1958)
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UNIT OVERVIEW.
In this unit, students recognize and appreciate the effective use of literary devices in nonfiction self-writing (although we'll complicate things by questioning whether such a thing as "nonfiction" self-writing can even exist). Students will read Elie Wiesel's Holocaust memoir Night and look for common narrative techniques of the memoir as a literary genre, such as the emphasis on a particularly significant, transformative event or time period in the author's life. Works of art that address similar goals, such as self-portraits, are also examined to compare presentation. Students will apply their learning of this literary genre by composing their own memoir in a short narrative essay. Additionally, as a sort of prologue to the reading of Night, we will study several biblical stories that are not only enormously influential in Western culture but also highly revealing of the God that Wiesel struggles to understand as he and millions of other Eastern European Jews suffer under the Nazi regime in the final years of World War 2.
ADDENDUM: Memoir as a "Myth of the Self"
In his Poetics (4th cent. BCE), Aristotle defines myth (mythos) as “a unified shape,” a plot; a story that can be seen as belonging to a certain culture, shaped by that culture’s other stories. This is to say that a myth only finds its unique form and significance through its relation to other myths, the whole of which, taken together, we would call a mythology. Applying this definition to the literary genre of memoir (Fr. "memory"), we might then say that if the task of the memoir is to tell a myth of the self, then there is a greater mythology that comprises the entire autobiographical experience of the memoir’s author that gives form and meaning to the myth (plot) of the memoir. The memoir, then, presents a version of the self--a self—not the self; a version of the self (a myth) that can only be understood when taking into consideration how it fits into the entire autobiographical experience of the self (the mythology).
In this unit, students recognize and appreciate the effective use of literary devices in nonfiction self-writing (although we'll complicate things by questioning whether such a thing as "nonfiction" self-writing can even exist). Students will read Elie Wiesel's Holocaust memoir Night and look for common narrative techniques of the memoir as a literary genre, such as the emphasis on a particularly significant, transformative event or time period in the author's life. Works of art that address similar goals, such as self-portraits, are also examined to compare presentation. Students will apply their learning of this literary genre by composing their own memoir in a short narrative essay. Additionally, as a sort of prologue to the reading of Night, we will study several biblical stories that are not only enormously influential in Western culture but also highly revealing of the God that Wiesel struggles to understand as he and millions of other Eastern European Jews suffer under the Nazi regime in the final years of World War 2.
ADDENDUM: Memoir as a "Myth of the Self"
In his Poetics (4th cent. BCE), Aristotle defines myth (mythos) as “a unified shape,” a plot; a story that can be seen as belonging to a certain culture, shaped by that culture’s other stories. This is to say that a myth only finds its unique form and significance through its relation to other myths, the whole of which, taken together, we would call a mythology. Applying this definition to the literary genre of memoir (Fr. "memory"), we might then say that if the task of the memoir is to tell a myth of the self, then there is a greater mythology that comprises the entire autobiographical experience of the memoir’s author that gives form and meaning to the myth (plot) of the memoir. The memoir, then, presents a version of the self--a self—not the self; a version of the self (a myth) that can only be understood when taking into consideration how it fits into the entire autobiographical experience of the self (the mythology).
FOCUS STANDARDS
- RL.9-10.4. Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g., how the language evokes a sense of time and place; how it sets a formal or informal tone).
- RI.9-10.4. Analyze how the author unfolds an analysis or series of ideas or events, including the order in which the points are made, how they are introduced and developed, and the connections that are drawn between them.
- W.9-10.3. Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details, and well-structured event sequences.
- SL.9-10.3. Evaluate a speaker's point of view, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric, identifying any fallacious reasoning or exaggerated or distorted evidence.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
- Identify and explain the characteristics of a memoir
- Distinguish between autobiography and memoir
- Identify and explain the effect of stylistic devices used in memoirs, such as figurative language, imagery, and allusions
- Identify and explain the effect of rhetorical strategies in speeches and visual media
CORE TEXT
LITERARY TEXTS
NON-FICTION TEXTS
ONLINE LEARNING
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Time Magazine cover | April 8, 1966
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SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY ON HOLOCAUST MEMOIRS
- Downing, Christine. "Imagination and Memory: Holocaust Reverberations." The Luxury of Afterwards. New York: iUniverse, 2004, Chapter 1.
- Schwarz, Daniel. Imagining the Holocaust, New York: St. Martin's Press, 1999.
- Wiesel, Elie. Memoirs: All Rivers Run to the Sea. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1995.
- Young, James E. Writing and Rewriting the Holocaust: Narrative and the Consequence of Interpretation. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana UP, 1990.
TERMINOLOGY
Allusion
Autobiography Devolutionary plot |
Flashback
Memoir |
Patience of Job
Retrospective voice |
IMAGE GALLERY
VIDEO GALLERY 1. Memoir, Night, and the Holocaust
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The Path to Nazi Genocide. A concise overview of the Holocaust and what made it possible. Source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Auschwitz-Birkenau
from the US Holocaust Memorial Museum |
Mr. Wheeler's Introduction to Unit 8: Myth of the Self: Night and Memoir
Auschwitz: Death Camp with Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel
The Oprah Whinfrey Show |
VIDEO GALLERY 2. Biblical Literature
Genesis 1-2: Creation
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Genesis 4: Cain and Abel
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Job: A Biblical Parable About the Problem of Suffering
MEDIA GALLERY.
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