Annotated Bibliography Term Project

TERM PROJECT - ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books:

Keneally, Thomas. Schindler’s Ark. London: Hemisphere Publishers Ltd, 1982.

A horrific historical fiction from the WWII. German businessman Oscar Schindler uses Polish Jews as a cheap labor in his factory. During the Holocaust he becomes increasingly terrified by what is being done by the Nazis and he starts to protect his employees. This book is describes unimaginable cruelty of the Holocaust in Poland. It is based on a true story. Schindler's Ark is a milestone in modern literature. It is historically accurate book. However, it is still considered a historical fiction rather than a historical document. This novel won the 1982 Booker Prize.

This book is a great resource for teaching about the Holocaust. It is an essential source for studying the film Schindler's List.

Landy, Marcia. The Historical Film: History and Memory in Media. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 2001.

The author of this book focuses on how the media portraits history. This book is divided into four parts: Regarding History, History as Trauma, History, Fiction, and Postcolonial Memory, and History and Television.

Loshitzky, Yosefa. Spielberg's Holocaust: Critical Perspectives on Schindler's List. Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1997.

This book is a collection of critical essays about Steven Spielberg's film Schindler's List. There are 12 essays which target various aspects of this influential film. Several essays describe various reactions of the audience in different countries (Israel, Germany, France, U.S.A.) The other essays discuss topics such as link between culture, history, and collective memory, representation of Holocaust in the media, Spielberg's Schindler's List versus Lanzmann's Shoah, Schindler's List and negative stereotypes of Jews, relationship between the Holocaust portrayed in the U.S. media and the film, and others.

This book is an excellent source of additional information about Schindler's List, Holocaust, and related topics. The essays are written by respected authors (university professors, filmmakers, writers). Most of the essays were already published before. The essays are diverse and sometimes controversial.

Norris, Margot. Writing War in the Twentieth Century. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 2000.

For purposes of my research I used only the chapter 5: Unmaking and Remaking a World. In this chapter Margot Norris compares the book Schindler's Ark and the film Schindler's list. The author believes that the film had a bigger emotional effect on a larger audience than the book even though the film is a slightly simplified version of the book.

This chapter is a very good resource for comparison between the book and the movie. It focuses particularly on ethical aspects of the book and the movie.

Erikson, Fensch. Oskar Schindler and His List: The Man, the Book, the Film, the Holocaust and Its Survivors. Forest Dale, VT: Paul S. Eriksson Publishing, 1995.

For purposes of my research I used only the second part of the book (The Author and the Book - How Thomas Keneally wrote "Schindler's List") and the third part of the book (The Producer and the Film - Steven Spielberg, His version of "Schindler's List," and the critics. Both of these parts are excellent sources of information about this topic, specifically about literary and film criticism. In this book there are many background details about works of both authors (Keneally and Spielberg).

Films:

Schindler’s List. Dir. Steven Spielberg. Perf. Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley, Ralph Fiennes, Caroline Goodall, and Jonathan Sagalle. 1997. Videocassette. Universal City: Universal Studios Inc.

This film is an adaptation of Thomas Keneally’s novel Schindler’s Ark. It follows the story of the book quite closely. It is considered to be one of the most powerful (if not the most powerful) Spielberg’s film. The film is entirely in black and white (except for the beginning and the end), plus a few interesting uses of color. The cast of the movie is excellent especially Liam Neeson as Oscar Schindler. It took Steven Spielberg 10 years of preparation and script obstacles before he made the film in 1992. Schindler’s List won seven Academy Awards.

I believe that this film is a great piece of art. It is also a brilliant document of the Holocaust. Schindler's List can be used as very effective and useful material in teaching various classes.

Periodicals: Journals

Thomson, David. "Presenting Enamelware." Film Comment 30.2 (Mar. - Apr. 1994): 44-50.

David Thomson in his article evaluates various aspects of the film Schindler's List. He discusses specific scenes and sequences from the movie and their strong points and weaknesses. He also comments on Spielberg's choice of cast (especially Liam Neeson as Schindler). Thomson also debates about how much is Schindler's List fitting into "Hollywood type" of a movie. The author points out some aspects of this movie, which he thinks, are too likable. Over all, Thomson respects this film admitting that Spielberg managed to touch extremely wide audience.

This article is well written and provides useful additional information about this topic. There are also several b&w pictures. It helps readers to view this film from interesting perspectives.

White, Armond, "Toward a Theory of Spielberg History," Film Comment Mar.-Apr. 1994: 30

The author of this article is rather critical about impact of Schindler's List on the audience. Armond believes that Spielberg's movie is too much like a set of lessons. According to the author Spielberg is focused more on provoking emotions than on artistic message of this movie. Spielberg challenges the audience more on emotional than on intellectual and artistic levels. The author compares Schindler's List with Spielberg's The Color Purple. He believes that Schindler's List doesn't meet artistic qualities of The Color Purple.

This article is a good example of film criticism. The author questions many aspects of the film. It provides interesting comparisons with other works of Steven Spielberg. I believe that it is a good balancing resource.

Keneally, Thomas, with Laurie Hergehan. "An Interview." Australian Literary Studies 12.4 (October 1986): 453-57. Literature Resource Center. Gale Group. 2003.

Laurie Hergenhan's interview with Thomas Keneally is very interesting and helps us to understand Keneally's perspective on historical novel. We can also learn some information about his personal life. He compares himself with other Australian writers, and he also talks about the American writing tradition. Keneally shares how he understands "artistic liberty" in interpreting historical events.

This interview is unique source of interesting information about Keneally's writing philosophy and style. I would recommend this short interview (4 pages) to everybody who is interested in his work.

Kryhoski, Laura. "Critical Essay on 'Schindler's List.' Novels for Students Vol. 17 (2003): 1-4. Literature Resource Center. Gale Group. 2003.

Laura Kryhoski's main focus are images from the book Schindler's List. She discusses specific images from the book such as the scarlet child and what they symbolize. She also analyzes scenes of violence and horror.

This short essay is a good source of information about literary criticism and the book.

Kukathas, Uma. "Critical Essay on 'Schindler's List.' Novels for Students Vol. 17 (2003): 1-4. Literature Resource Center. Gale Group. 2003.

Uma Kukathas in her critical essay focuses on Keneally's book Schindler's List. She analyzes the book's images and Keneally's writing techniques. She also discusses how much is this book a novel versus a historical document.

This essay is an interesting source of information about the book Schindler's List and about Keneally's writing style.

Web-sites:

Middlemiss, Perry.

“Thomas Keneally.” Literature: Australian Authors. 1995-2002. Last viewed 5.13. 2003

http://www.middlemiss.org/lit/authors/keneally/keneally.htm

This website offers a biography of Thomas Keneally. His personal life is briefly described in the beginning. There is also a large photo of the author. Then several of Keneally’s most important books are introduced. This website also offers detailed bibliography of Keneally’s fiction, drama, children’s books, screenplays, film adaptations, acting resumes, documentary, and his presence on the web. There is also the author’s contact. Most of his works are linked to separate web-pages with detailed information about any given work.

I find this webpage very useful. It is well organized and easy to use.

PBS Online: Schindler's List

PBS Homepage. 2003. Last viewed 5.14. 2003

http://www.pbs.org/holocaust/schindler/biography.html

This website is divided into four sub-parts: Who was Schindler?, What was the List?, Behind the Scenes, and PBS Holocaust Remembrance Site. It provides detailed information about the historical background of the film and about significance of the actual list of the names. It brings up several important moments of the film. It also provides information about the director and producer of Steven Spielberg.

This website is not large. However, there is enough information to start research and get oriented in this topic. There are several pictures from the film. It provides very good information about the historical setting of this film.

Schindler's List - Teaching Guide

Southern Institute for Education and Research at Tulane University Homepage. 1997. Last viewed 5. 14. 2003.

http://www.tulane.edu/~so-inst/slindex.html

This website is very large and includes many topics related to the film Schindler's List. It offers large amount of information about the historical background. It also provides information about "real" Oscar Schindler, Emilie Schindler, Krakow, main characters from the movie, Jewish history, concentration camps, glossary, etc. Each topic is linked to its own website which provides very detailed information.

It is well organized and easy to use. It is a great resource of information for teachers and students. It teaches Schindler' s List in very large context.

Steven Spielberg's Biography. Alex Iosjpe. Geocities. Last viewed 6. 8. 2003.

http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Studio/4369/biography.html

This site provides very good information about all works of Steven Spielberg. There are many useful links to his films.

Steven Spielberg Resource Site and Entertainment. Film Makers.com 2000-2002. Last viewed 6.8. 2003.

http://www.filmmakers.com/artists/spielberg/biography/

This is another site providing background information about S. Spielberg. There are also many useful links related to his work. This site includes Spielberg's filmography.

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This page was last updated: 10-07-2003

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