Description
Literary Nonfiction. Poetry. HOLOCAUST MUSEUM reframes the captions of holocaust photographs from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC. These captions—without their photographic images—are arranged loosely in the order or narrative constructed by the museum. There are many purposes to this project, but, for the author, the genesis is in articulating a cultural shift from image to text. Primarily, the author chose this particular subject, this particular holocaust, because the images are shared in our collective memory—by presenting only the text, the reader is, hopefully, consigned into a more complicit experience.
"According to a dictionary, a museum is a site where objects of permanent value are kept and displayed. The permanent value of the objects captured in Robert Fitterman's HOLOCAUST MUSEUM is that they prove the cut an image can make. The image of a Jew, a gypsy, a desecration, a desire. We have seen the pictures of our past, but the point is the caption. For it is through the language of this museum that we can see how permanent, how precious, is our love of hate."—Vanessa Place
Author Bio
Robert Fitterman is the author of 15 books of poetry including ROB'S WORD SHOP (Ugly Duckling Press, 2019), THIS WINDOW MAKES ME FEEL (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2018), I LOVE YOU FOREVER, NO MATTER (Counterpath, 2016), NEVERMIND (Wonder Books, 2016), NO WAIT, YEP. DEFINITELY STILL HATE MYSELF (Ugly Duckling Press, 2014), HOLOCAUST MUSEUM (Counterpath, 2013, and Veer [London] 2012), NOW WE ARE FRIENDS (Truck Books, 2010), ROB THE PLAGIARIST (Roof Books, 2009), WAR, THE MUSICAL (Subpress, 2006), and METROPOLIS—a long poem in 4 separate volumes. He has collaborated with several visual artists, including: Serkan Ozkaya, Nayland Blake, Fia Backström, Tim Davis and Klaus Killisch. He is the founding member of the international artists and writers collective, Collective Task. He teaches writing and poetry at New York University and at the Bard College, Milton Avery School of Graduate Studies.
Author City: NEW YORK, NY USA