Foregone conclusions : against apocalyptic history

Criticizes "foreshadowing" in literary works on the Shoah which view it as inevitable, as a foreordained culmination of the entire brutal history of European antisemitism. States that the Shoah was not an unavoidable tragedy, in the literary sense, because the genocide was part of an ongoing political process, and the fate of individuals sometimes depended on their own resourcefulness or on "accidental" occurrences. The Jewish victims were deluded by wrong predictions and incorrect interpretations of events, but each victim perceived his situation differently, depending on his past history, religious belief, ideology, etc. Criticizes, therefore, "backshadowing" or judging victims as though they should have known what was to come. Favors "sideshadowing"--Writing with an awareness that events do not occur because of any logical or historical necessity. Discusses mainly fictional but also non-fictional writing on the Shoah. "A Centennial book." xiii, 181 pages ; 22 cm