120424 Comparative Literature 2DW Continuing on Bombay - Songs throughout the novel o Sung by mother sweetness of the mother

r tongue/childhood o In the camps that the Nazis forced everyone (including the Jews) to sing Danger of death Hugo is not strictly speaking a survivor of Holocaust o Although definitely is affected by the event o Mother perished in Holocaust, father committed suicide after persecution, displaced o Dual nature for those who had survived Sugar vs. glass - Is this novel a part of Holocaust literature? o Work of survivors/those who were in close proximate relationship with the Holocaust o Memoirs or works of fiction o Who is a survivor? What kind of figure is that? Is he or she a proxy for the non-survivor who gives voice for the others and is stained by the guilt of surviving while others did not? o Something unrepresentable about the Holocaust beyond words Industrial genocide factories as a product of death o The work remains far from the events of the Holocaust o The burning of Calcutta refers to the Holocaust that is occurring in Europe, therefore Hugo felt that it was an appropriate place to mourn for his mother (Pg 166) - Since American/French revolutions of the 18th century, human rights as inalienable. What does this mean? o Inalienable: cannot be take away - Maybe the novel is suggesting the reverse possibility: our ability to have rights is not universal, but depends on what kind of community we belong to. o Rights become a political question rather than a question of human nature - Stateless refugees seem to not have the ability to have rights. The concentration camp victims purest form of this. o No state accepts them as citizens (i.e. Palestinians); no identification with any state o No ability to have rights no right to have rights o Concentration camp victims are the purest forms of this - Familiar theme of Jewish exile from Nazi Germanymost often to America. - What does it mean to link it to India/Indias Partition? Is the novel implicitly comparing the Holocaust and the Partition? Marathon Man - Strong motif of father-son relationship - Element of trauma and obsession by it

The car chase in the beginning takes place in a German town in Manhattan o Conflict between German and Jew Jew has a more equal, if not better, chance of winning, contrary to the Holocaust Torture of Babe o Again, German torturing Jew Nazi German is surrounded by a large number of Jews and is fearful of the victims