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Rachel Feldhay Brenner

レイチェル・フェルドハイ・ブレンナー

Reicheru Ferudohai Burennā

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1946 （Zabrze, Poland）
Died
2021-02-04 （Madison, Wisconsin） age 75
Nationality
Polish, Israeli
Languages
English, Hebrew, Polish
Religion
Judaism
Residence History
Zabrze, Poland → Israel → Madison, Wisconsin

Career

Occupations
College professor, writer, scholar of Jewish literature
Active Years
1989-2019
Affiliations
University of Wisconsin–Madison, Institute for Research in the Humanities, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Association for Israel Studies, Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America
Memberships
Association for Israel Studies (President 2007-2009), Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America

Education

Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Department of Literature
Degree: BA
Country: Israel
Bachelor's degree
Tel Aviv University
Department of Literature
Degree: MA
Country: Israel
Master's degree
York University
Degree: PhD
Country: Canada
PhD

Awards

Canadian Jewish Book Award
1992
Work: Literary criticism
Category: literary criticism
Result: winner

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Assimilation and Assertion: The Response to the Holocaust in Mordecai Richler’s Writing

1989 Literary criticism

Explores the response to the Holocaust in Mordecai Richler’s writing.

HolocaustAssimilationJewish literature

A.M. Klein, The Father of Canadian Jewish Literature: Essays in the Poetics of Humanistic Passion

1990 Literary criticism

Essays on A.M. Klein's poetics.

Canadian Jewish literature

Writing as Resistance: Four Women Confronting the Holocaust: Edith Stein, Simone Weil, Anne Frank, and Etty Hillesum

1997 Literary criticism

Four women confronting the Holocaust through writing.

HolocaustWomen writersResistance

Inextricably Bonded—Israeli Jewish and Arab Writers Re-Visioning Culture

2003 Literary criticism

Israeli Jewish and Arab writers re-visioning culture.

Israeli literatureJewish-Arab relations

The Freedom to Write: The Woman-Artist and the World in Ruth Almog’s Fiction

2008 Literary criticism

Analysis of Ruth Almog’s fiction (in Hebrew).

Israeli women literature

The Ethics of Witnessing: The Holocaust in Polish Writers’ Diaries from Warsaw, 1939-1945

2014 Literary criticism

Holocaust in Polish writers' diaries.

HolocaustPolish literature

Polish Literature and the Holocaust: Eyewitness Testimonies, 1942–1947

2019 Literary criticism

Eyewitness testimonies in Polish literature.

HolocaustTestimonial literature

Bibliography

  • Assimilation and Assertion: The Response to the Holocaust in Mordecai Richler’s Writing
  • A.M. Klein, The Father of Canadian Jewish Literature: Essays in the Poetics of Humanistic Passion
  • Writing as Resistance: Four Women Confronting the Holocaust
  • Inextricably Bonded—Israeli Jewish and Arab Writers Re-Visioning Culture
  • The Freedom to Write: The Woman-Artist and the World in Ruth Almog’s Fiction
  • The Ethics of Witnessing: The Holocaust in Polish Writers’ Diaries from Warsaw, 1939-1945
  • Polish Literature and the Holocaust: Eyewitness Testimonies, 1942–1947

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Scholarly analysisCritical examination
Recurring Motifs
HolocaustJewish identityIsraeli literature

Health

  • cancer
    晩年
    Cause of death in 2021

Legacy

Prominent scholar of Jewish and Holocaust literature. An award in her name was established.

In Popular Culture

  • The Rachel Feldhay Brenner Award in Polish-Jewish Studies founded by PIASA in 2021

Quotes

  • It is my belief that literature affects human consciousness and effects change in social practices, yet its impact is imperceptible, often delayed, and hard to measure.
    Source: Wisconsin State Journal (2004)

Trivia

  • Born in Poland and immigrated to Israel in 1956
  • Published a book in Hebrew in 2008