Indiana University Press blog

Political Oppression and Retribution Rape: A Closer Look at JML 39.4

This post is part of a series that takes a closer look at the scholarship in the articles and issues of IU Press journals. Posts may respond to articles, provide background, document the development process, or explain why scholars are excited about the journal, theme, or article and are primarily written by journal editors and contributors.

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By Michael Lackey, author of "The Scandal of Jewish Rage in William Styron's Sophie's Choice" in issue 39.4 of the Journal of Modern Literature.

Rapists are perpetrators, never victims.  It is this psycho-cultural dogma that has led scholars of William Styron’s Sophie’s Choice to conclude that the Jewish character Nathan Landau, who brutally rapes the protagonist Sophie, is more like a Nazi than a Jew, more like an anti-Semitic perpetrator than an oppressed minority.  But while teaching the novel in my Holocaust course, I noticed a strange parallel that made me question this seemingly infallible truth about rape and subsequent approaches to Nathan.

At the time, I was working on a book (The Haverford Discussions) about the conflicts between black integrationists and black separatists, and I observed that the concentration-camp survivor Elie Wiesel made a strikingly similar claim as the Black-Power militant, Eldridge Cleaver.  After Wiesel and some of his fellow survivors were liberated from a death camp, they decided, as Wiesel records in the Yiddish version (Un di Velt hot geshvign) of his canonical text Night, to go to Weimar in order to rape German women. This was an effort to get revenge on the Germans for what they did to the Jews.  In the book Soul on Ice, Cleaver says that he raped black females as practice for raping white women, because he believed that violating white women would be a potent act of political revenge against the community of oppressors.  In both cases, oppressed figures (Jews and blacks) view rape as an act of political retribution.

Is it possible that this twisted form of political logic informs the behavior of Styron’s Jewish character Nathan?  Such was the idea that led me to write “The Scandal of Jewish Rage in William Styron’s Sophie’s Choice.”  But it is important to note that my new interpretation of Nathan builds on my previous work about Sophie’s character, which I formulated most clearly in my book The Modernist God State: A Literary Study of the Nazis’ Christian Reich.  For the longest time, most scholars treated Sophie as an innocent victim of Nazi atrocities.  But when writing The Modernist God State, which focuses on the anti-Semitic version of Christianity that Hitler and the Nazis adopted in order to justify their brutal treatment of the Jews, I realized that Sophie had a profound understanding of the Nazis’ specific approach to Christianity and that Styron strategically suggested throughout that Sophie, like her father, had adopted the Nazis’ anti-Semitic version of Christianity when she was still in Europe.  It was this discovery that led me to overturn most interpretations of the novel by demonstrating that Sophie was actually more perpetrator than victim. 

If it is true that Sophie not only understood but also internalized the Nazis’ anti-Semitic version of Christianity, and if it is also true that Nathan started to realize that Sophie had once been more of a Nazi sympathizer than she willingly admits, then one can understand why Nathan calls Sophie Irma Griese, the sadistic Nazi concentration-camp guard.  And if we follow the logic of political revenge as articulated by Wiesel and Cleaver, then we could say that Nathan, in raping Sophie, behaves more like an oppressed Jew than a Nazi perpetrator. 

This interpretation makes considerable sense when we note that Styron documented the horrific political logic of retribution-rape in his 1967 novel The Confessions of Nat Turner.  Styron’s Turner opposes rape so much that he considers abandoning his idea of an insurrection because he fears that some of his rebels will rape white women.  But after suffering humiliation and abuse at the hands of his white oppressors, Styron’s Turner fantasizes about raping a white woman, despite his moral objections to the contrary.  In essence, Styron pictures the overmastering psychological effects of oppression on the inner life of the oppressed, a political logic that Styron would develop in even more detail in his novel about oppressed Jews in the anti-Semitic West. 

Given this interpretation, is Styron sanctioning Nathan’s rape of Sophie?  The answer is an emphatic no.  In both The Confessions of Nat Turner and Sophie’s Choice, Styron, like Frantz Fanon, suggests that a soul-crushing culture of oppression creates twisted psycho-political forms of reaction.  This approach does not sanction rape, and Styron is not suggesting that there is such a thing as legitimate rape.  But the best way to prevent these sadistic and perverted responses from coming into being would be to stop the targeted oppression of certain racial and ethnic communities.

 

Read Michael Lackey's essay "The Scandal of Jewish Rage in William Styron's Sophie's Choice" in issue 39.4 of the Journal of Modern Literature, which is available now on JSTOR.

6 IUP books named Choice Outstanding Academic Titles for 2015

Every year, Choice magazine selects the most prestigious scholarly books for its Outstanding Academic Titles award. We are pleased to announce that six IU Press titles were chosen out of 7,000 that were reviewed in 2015 by the magazine's editors! IUP winners include:

Geographies of the Holocaust edited by Anne Kelly Knowles, Tim Cole, and Alberto Giordano with Erik B. Steiner, explores the geographies of the Holocaust from various human experiences. Through six cases studies, geographers and historians come together to research the places and spaces of the genocide.

Italian Fascism’s Empire Cinema by Ruth Ben-Ghiat looks at the study of documentary and feature films produced under Mussolini’s fascist regime. Films by experienced and novice filmmakers alike, these pictures reinforced Fascist racial and labor policies, corruption and war. Ben-Ghiat restores these films and their history and opens our eyes to the cinema of dictatorship.

Materialities of Ritual in the Black Atlantic edited by Akinwumi Ogundiran and Paula Saunders, is a compilation of essays focusing on  everyday rituals of African-descended communities in the Atlantic world. The book gives insight into the material of rituals and ritualistic acts associated with birth, death, healing and protection and how these rituals have been transformed by African communities through cultural formation, commerce, enslavement and colonialism.

New Voices in Arab Cinema by Roy Armes gives a historical overview and critical analysis of Arab filmmaking since the 1980s, and gives special consideration to films from the Middle East and North Africa since the Arab Spring and the Syrian crisis. While also looking at the longer history of Arab cinema, Armes touches on themes of production, the role of the state and private film industry, key filmmakers, and how current notions like globalization, immigration and exile play into film as well. 

 Nollywood Stars by Noah A. Tsika explores how the industry’s top on-screen talents have catapulted Nollywood beyond West Africa and into the diaspora to become one of the most diverse media producers in the world. As on-screen talents and working agents, this book follows Nollywood stars from Lagos to London, from New York to Los Angeles all while they hope to integrate Nollywood into various entertainment cultures while maintaining their African roots.

The Subject of Holocaust Fiction by Emily Miller Budick examines the subjective experiences of fantasy, projections and repression cultivated in Holocaust fiction and the reader’s encounter with it. Budick claims that fictional representations of horrific events run the risk of undercutting efforts to verify historical knowledge and may heighten our ability to respond ethically to human experiences of devastation. Investigating works by Cynthia Ozick, Art Spiegelman, Aharon Appelfeld, Michael Chabon, and others, Budick discusses how the reader makes sense of these fictional representations of memory, trauma, victims and victimizers.

History & Memory author Eric Nelson awarded the Nancy Lyman Roelker Prize

We are delighted to announce that Eric Nelson has been awarded the Nancy Lyman Roelker Prize for his article, “Remembering the Martyrdom of Saint Francis of Paola: History, Memory and Minim Identity in Seventeenth-Century France,” which was published in History & Memory 26.2 (Fall/Winter 2014). The prize is awarded annually by the Sixteenth Century Society and Conference for the best article published in English on sixteenth-century French history during the preceding calendar year. Congratulations, Eric!

This article examines the efforts to record traditions within the Minim community concerning the martyrdom of Saint Francis of Paola­—the founder of their order, whose remains were burnt by Protestant forces during an attack on the Minim monastery outside Tours in 1562—and the role of published histories written by French Minim scholars in the first quarter of the seventeenth century. Exploring the relationship between individual, collective, and historical memory, the article sheds new light on how the iconoclastic violence of the French religious wars was remembered by religious communities.

 Eric Nelson is Professor of History at Missouri State University and the author of The Jesuits and the Monarchy: Catholic Reform and Political Authority in France (1590–1615) (2005) and The Legacy of Iconoclasm: Religious War and the Relic Landscape of Tours, Blois and Vendôme, 1550–1750 (2013).

Podcast: Peter Schrag discussess When Europe Was a Prison Camp

On this episode of the IU Press podcast, Peter Schrag discusses When Europe Was a Prison Camp. This book weaves together Peter’s and his father Otto’s memoirs about their experiences in Occupied Europe during World War II. The Schrags were Jews, and Otto was interned in a French prison camp. Schrag shares the compelling story of how he and his family escaped to America.

Guest post: Never again? Srebrenica 20 years later

By Selma Leydesdorff

While writing Surviving the Bosnian Genocide: The Women of Srebrenica Speak, I was angry and appalled by the Dutch failure to deal with its responsibility for the genocide of 8,000 Muslim Bosnian men by Serbian troops in Bosnia in July 1995. The Dutch army did not even make the slightest attempt to protect the inhabitants of Srebrenica and the refugees they were supposed to offer a “safe haven.” Up to the present day, the Dutch government has minimized or simply denied its responsibility, consistently portraying the Dutch military in Srebrenica as helpless and therefore innocent bystanders.

Today on the 20^th anniversary of the massacre, many thousands will gather in collective mourning at the cemetery in Potoćari. Bodies recently found and identified in mass graves will be buried with the countless victims already resting there. As in previous ceremonies, a chorus will sing the beautiful oratorio Srebrenica Inferno composed by Đelo Jusić:

Mother, mother, I still dream of you
Sister, brother, I still dream about you every night
You're not here ...
I'm searching for you ...
Wherever I go, I see you
Mother, father, why aren't you here

It is the song of the small child surrounded by mourning women in white garments. Finally, the coffins will be carried to the many graves.

Today, I remain upset about the way my country denies its responsibility. Recently the Defense Minister Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert offered an apology about three men who were killed during the massacre while employed with the Dutch military. This is after years of lawsuits. The government denies any other responsibility, arguing that the Dutch worked under the command of the United Nations. Probably in these exceptional cases the meager sum of 20,000 Euros will be paid. All other legal claims of the organizations of survivors have been dismissed.

The women I interviewed for Surviving the Bosnian Genocide demand compensation for the ways their families have been destroyed and for the ways they are still forced to live in temporary shelters. They know that material compensation can never make up for what has happened. But they want recognition and their story should be known. After we got to know each other I gained their trust, many of them volunteered their stories. They gave me insight into the destruction of their lives, the loss of their social networks, and their trauma. While at first I was met with stones and mud thrown at me, we eventually became friends. They never tried to control me and believed I could tell their story in a different way so the world might understand. 

I wrote my book as a Dutch citizen who is fed up with the whitewashing. In the tradition of oral history I listened to the stories, interpreted them, and gave them a context. By presenting their history, I demonstrate that I am serious about the words “Never Again,” and how much I am convinced that we can never understand such genocides without listening.

Selma Leydesdorff is Professor of Oral History and Culture at the University of Amsterdam. Read an excerpt from Surviving the Bosnian Genocide here.

Three IUP books reviewed in The Jewish Eye

The following IUP books were reviewed in The Jewish Eye:

Shatterzone of Empires

"Shatterzone of Empires is essential reading for students of European history and Imperial Studies, of Jewish and minority history, as well as those interested in war studies. Each essay is self-contained, giving you the option of reading the essays in order, or you can skip around reading any topic that strike your interest."

Anatomy of the Auschwitz Death Camp

"Filled with relevant illustrations and detailed notes, Anatomy of the Auschwitz Death Camp is an indispensable guide to Auschwitz and all that is has come to represent. It is an important contribution to the body of work on the Holocaust, and a copy of this book should be added to every public and private library. The text can be used as the foundation for classes on the Holocaust, or as a supplemental text in any class, high school level and beyond, dealing with World War II, genocide studies, or Jewish studies."

Comprehensive Yiddish-English Dictionary

"New and up-to-date, the Comprehensive Yiddish-English Dictionary, edited by Solon Beinfeld and Harry Bochner, is a must-have book for both students of Yiddish and fluent Yiddish speakers and writers ... This essential reference book begins with an invaluable user's guide that not only introduces readers to the Yiddish alphabet, but also provides a detailed guide on how to use this dictionary and the information it provides within the entries."

Richard III's remains discovered, but who is the man behind the bones?

Painted as an evil and ruthless tyrant, Richard III has been much maligned by Shakespeare and popular culture. In a somewhat anticlimatic end to the mystery of his grave's location, University of Leicester researchers recently announced with scientific certainty that they had discovered Richard III's remains—under a parking lot. 

But who is the man behind the bones? Much of what we know comes from Thomas More's 16th-century book The History of King Richard the Third. With the help of Shakespeare, whose Richard the Third took More’s work as its principal model, the History determined the historical reputation of an English king and spawned a seemingly endless controversy about the justness of that reputation. Editor George M. Logan has produced a scholarly yet accessible edition of the History, designed to make More’s exhilarating work fully accessible to 21st-century readers. Read more about this book on the IU Press website and decide for yourself if "history is written by the victors."

Related articles

Richard III's Bones: Should One of History's Losers Be Redeemed? - TIME

Some thoughts on history, Catholicism, and King Richard III

Discovered under a parking lot: The body of King Richard III

Library Journal selects two IU Press books as "Spring Fling" picks

Senior editor Margaret Heilbrun featured two of our books in her "Spring Fling 2013" column for Library Journal. Anne Gillain's François Truffaut and Karen Auerbach's The House at Ujazdowskie 16 are on Heibrun's list of "exciting stuff" coming from university presses this spring. Learn more about the books:

François Truffaut: The Lost Secret

Available in English for the first time, Anne Gillain's book is considered by many to be the best book on the interpretation of Truffaut's films. Gillian examines how the French New Wave director's personal life and childhood influenced his filmmaking.

The House at Ujazdowskie 16: Jewish Families in Warsaw after the Holocaust

Using 16 Ujazdowskie Avenue as a backdrop, Karen Auerbach profiles 10 Jewish families and their struggles to rebuild their lives in Poland after the Holocaust. She presents an engrossing story of loss and rebirth, political faith and disillusionment, and the persistence of Jewishness.

Want to see what else we're publishing this spring? Download our Spring 2013 catalog.

Book review: Robert Bresson (Revised)

"This, then, really is inarguably the critical study of Robert Bresson."—PopMatters

Christopher Probst to appear on Steve Brown Etc. radio program this Friday

An interview with Christopher J. Probst, author of Demonizing the Jews: Luther and the Protestant Church in Nazi Germany, will air on Friday's broadcast of the Steve Brown Etc. radio program, beginning at noon.

The interview will be available on the program's website after the broadcast.