Reading responses are due Thursday 1 April in class or by 5 PM in Avery 475. Choose one of the questions below and answer in an essay of 2-3 pages.
1. S. Lillian Kremer has argued that An Estate of Memory fails to capture the attention of American audiences because "Karmel's tough, unsentimental treatment of victims was at variance with the pathos and redemptive mode many American readers crave in Holocaust writing and film" (35). Do you agree with Kremer that Karmel's narrative structure and focus is difficult for American readers who are used to sentimental portrayals of Oskar Schindler and Anne Frank?
2. An Estate of Memory is a psychological novel that uses interrupted chronology (through the use of extended flashbacks) to recreate the psychological chaos of the concentration camp universe. What other narrative techniques or recurring motifs does Karmel employ to probe the depths of the psychological in the novel?
3. Tola, Barbara, Alinka, and Aurelia develop a bond that transforms over time. How does their relationship change, and what events of the novel illustrate the transformation of their relation to one another?
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