The idea of survival is a recurrent theme in discussions both of family and of art. Whether understood in physical, mental, or spiritual terms, it is inextricable from the most basic questions of human existence, encompassing the ways in which individual experience can persist after death. Questions of survival and immortality are thus central for understanding the artistically expansive family at the center of this volume: Alice Lok Cahana, a Holocaust survivor and painter; her son Rabbi Ronnie Cahana, a writer and stroke survivor; and his daughter Kitra Cahana, a photographer who embeds herself in communities in order to tell their stories. Complemented with fascinating essays that provide powerful insights into memory and trauma, this beautifully illustrated book interweaves powerful accounts of these three artists with a complex story of human experience, legacy, and meaning.

The idea of survival is a recurrent theme in discussions both of family and of art. Whether understood in physical, mental, or spiritual terms, it is inextricable from the most basic questions of human existence, encompassing the ways in which individual experience can persist after death. Questions of survival and immortality are thus central for understanding the artistically expansive family at the center of this volume: Alice Lok Cahana, a Holocaust survivor and painter; her son Rabbi Ronnie Cahana, a writer and stroke survivor; and his daughter Kitra Cahana, a photographer who embeds herself in communities in order to tell their stories. Complemented with fascinating essays that provide powerful insights into memory and trauma, this beautifully illustrated book interweaves powerful accounts of these three artists with a complex story of human experience, legacy, and meaning.

This interdisciplinary volume explores the painting of Alice Lok Cahana, a survivor of three Holocaust concentration camps; the poetry of her son, Ronnie Cahana; and the photography and award-winning filmmaking of her granddaughter, Kitra Cahana. It places that layered narrative within the context of art, the biology of memory, and the physiological and psychological question of how both creativity and intense trauma can be transmitted from one generation to the next.

This book explores the desire to live forever, which manifests itself in many forms. The author's self-expressed 'aim has been, simply, to write a readable book that will afford the reader an increased sensitivity to the many ways the desire for immortality has shaped history, philosophy, art, and literature.'

The Routledge International Handbook of Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Descendants of Holocaust Survivors offers a comprehensive collection of cutting-edge studies from a wide range of fields dealing with new research about descendants of Holocaust survivors. Examining the aftermath of the Holocaust on the Second Generation and Third Generation, children and grandchildren of Holocaust survivors, it is the first volume to bring together research perspectives from history, psychology, sociology, communications, literature, film, theater, art, music, biology, and medicine. With contributions from international experts, key topics covered include survivor characteristics and experiences; the phenomenological experience of transmitted trauma legacies; the creation of Second Generation groups; the epigenetics of inherited trauma; the development of Second Generation writing; representation of Holocaust survivors in film; music and the transmission of memory; art, music, and the Holocaust; ancestral trauma and its effect on the ageing process of subsequent generations; 2G and 3G health issues and outcomes. Divided into two sections, the first deals with the humanities: history and testimony, literature, film and theater, art, and music. The second section, focusing on the social sciences and health-related sciences, contains chapters dealing with studies in the fields of psychology, sociology, anthropology, communication, gerontology, nursing, and medicine. This insightful handbook is a contemporary anthology for advanced students and scholars in the humanities, along with those in behavioral, social, and health-related sciences concerned with research about second- and third-generation Holocaust survivors.

Throughout history mankind has struggled to reconcile itself with the inescapability of its own mortality. This book explores the themes of immortality and survivalism in contemporary culture, shedding light on the varied and ingenious ways in which humans and human societies aspire to confront and deal with death, or even seek to outlive it, as it were. Bringing together theoretical and empirical work from internationally acclaimed scholars across a range of disciplines, Postmortal Society offers studies of the strategies adopted and means available in modern society for trying to ‘cheat’ death or prolong life, the status of the dead in the modern Western world, the effects of beliefs that address the terror of death in other areas of life, the ‘immortalisation’ of celebrities, the veneration of the dead in virtual worlds, symbolic immortality through work, the implications of understanding ‘immortality’ in chemical-neuronal terms, and the apparent paradox of our greater reverence for the dead in increasingly secular, capitalist societies. A fascinating collection of studies that explore humanity’s attempts to deal with its own mortality in the modern age, this book will appeal to sociologists, anthropologists, philosophers and scholars of cultural studies with interests in death and dying.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.