About the Author

David Sluckiis assistant professor in the Yaschik/Arnold Jewish Studies Program at the College of Charleston and author of Sing This at My Funeral: A Memoir of Fathers and Sons (Wayne State University Press, 2019).

Gabriel N. Finder is professor in the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures and director of the Jewish Studies Program at the University of Virginia and co-editor of Jewish Honor Courts: Revenge, Retribution, and Reconciliation in Europe and Israel after the Holocaust (Wayne State University Press in association with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 2015); and currently writing a book on Polish Jewish honor courts.

Avinoam Patt is the Doris and Simon Konover Professor of Judaic Studies and director of the Center for Judaic Studies and Contemporary Jewish Life at the University of Connecticut; and co-editor of The JDC at 100: A Century of Humanitarianism (Wayne State University Press, 2019); and is currently writing a new book on the early postwar memory of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.

Reviews

Laughter After breaks the silence surrounding the topic of laughter, levity, and the Holocaust.--M. L. Scott "CHOICE Connect" (1/1/2021 12:00:00 AM)
Laughter After: Humor and the Holocaust offers readers a surprising swath of materials demonstrating how irony, sarcasm, and gallows humor have figured ever since the dark days of World War II as one element in the human response to tragedy and evil. One is taken aback by the proliferation of such examples, which many readers will not have anticipated. Yet, again and again the authors in this collection insist that there is something here that demands a serious hearing and an explanation, and they provide even the wariest reader with the motivation to consider this material with all due earnestness. The authors in this volume, who include some of the most respected authorities in contemporary Jewish cultural studies, quote liberally from a transnational treasury of anti-Nazi quips, mockery, and satire, as well as a considerable body of Jewish self-criticism. They have treated this very sensitive theme without stepping beyond the boundary of serious, disciplined discourse.--Eli Lederhendler "chairman of the Department of Jewish History and Contemporary Jewry, Hebrew University of Jerusalem" (1/15/2020 12:00:00 AM)
'Laughter through tears' might seem like a universal response to tragedy, but comedy is also notoriously difficult to translate. As a result, audiences and scholars alike often miss cultural patterns and dynamics in humor that cross linguistic and national lines. Laughter After gathers extraordinary, insightful works of scholarship treating literature and culture in half a dozen languages, in countries ranging from Mexico to Poland to Australia, exposing crucial transnational aspects of Holocaust humor as it has evolved since the 1940s. It has much to offer to scholars of Holocaust memory, comedy, and translation.--Josh Lambert "academic director of the Yiddish Book Center and author of Unclean Lips: Obscenity, Jews, and American Culture" (1/15/2020 12:00:00 AM)
Between Laughter After's brilliant cast of contributors and its shockingly wry but deadly serious co-editors, this volume blows apart the myth of Holocaust humorlessness. And it's not just about the therapeutic working through of trauma performed in Holocaust-themed comedy by Jews after the fact, but every one of these excellent essays is also a profound exploration of the historical and cultural origins and hilarious examples of humor and laughter before and during the Holocaust, as well. This is cultural history of the Holocaust at its very best: powerful, deep, and moving.--James E. Young "founding director of the Institute for Holocaust, Genocide, and Memory Studies" (1/15/2020 12:00:00 AM)