Portrayals of the Holocaust in literature, paintings, and architecture have aroused many
ethical debates. How can we admire, much less enjoy, art that deals with such a horrific
event? Does finding beauty in the Holocaust amount to a betrayal of its victims?

Brett Kaplan s Unwanted Beauty meets these difficult questions head on, analyzing a wide range of Holocaust representations in order to argue that a more careful understanding of aesthetics and its relation to history can best address the anxieties raised by beauty in Holocaust art.

Building on the work of Marianne Hirsch,...