MADISON — Rachel Brenner, the Max and Frieda Weinstein-Bascom Professor of Jewish Studies in the Mosse/Weinstein Center for Jewish Studies and a CREECA affiliate, has been awarded a 2015 USC Book Prize in Literary and Cultural Studies by the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES). Brenner received the award for her book The Ethics of Witnessing: The Holocaust in Polish Writers’ Diaries from Warsaw, 1939-1945. Published in June 2014 by Northwestern University Press, The Ethics of Witnessing delves into the diaries of five prominent Polish writers, exploring their varied reactions to the Holocaust. Through the firsthand accounts of Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz, Maria Dąbrowska, Aurelia Wyleżyńska, Zofia Nałkowska and Stanisław Rembek, Brenner examines the influence of humanist and nationalist ideologies and the limits of Enlightenment ethics when confronted with the reality of the Holocaust.
The University of Southern California Book Prize in Literary and Cultural Studies has been awarded annually since 2009 for “an outstanding monograph published on Russia, Eastern Europe or Eurasia in the fields of literary and cultural studies.” The Prize is sponsored by USC’s Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures and carries a cash award. As a Prize winner, Brenner will be recognized at the Annual ASEEES Convention in November 2015. ASEEES is the principal professional and scholarly organization for Slavic, East European and Eurasian studies.
CREECA extends its congratulations to Professor Brenner on this award!