ABSTRACT
The problems faced by artists who try to depict the horrors of twentieth century reality are intimidating, beginning with the basic questions of whether they can do so, and if so, whether they should. In particular, after World War II, our destructive power seems to have exceeded our creative power, and we have realized the workings of our worst imaginations on a scale that is difficult for us to understand and sometimes even to believe. The magnitude of the destruction symbolized by the place names Auschwitz and Hiroshima challenges the power and the will of contemporary artists. Some artists have limited themselves to documenting or recording what has happened in a clear and objective manner, regarding themselves as reporters, as witnesses, or as preservers of the records and documents of others. The argument here is that the individual message or viewpoint of the artist is irrelevant in an era of mass killings and that there is nothing to ‘add’ or ‘invent’ concerning Auschwitz or Hiroshima. Others see a clear lesson in such events, and they try to highlight that lesson in the depiction of what would otherwise seem either a manifestation of absolute evil or of meaningless destruction like that of a natural disaster such as an earthquake, a plague, or a volcanic eruption. Still others have questioned the ability of art to deal with such matters at all and have even claimed that Auschwitz and Hiroshima prove conclusively the worthlessness of art. Such reactions range from self-reflection on the nature and boundaries of art to the literature of the absurd, which also questions the nature and boundaries of language and culture, of life itself.
