Idit Alphandary. Forgiveness and Resentment in the Aftermath of Mass Atrocity: Jewish Voices in Literature and Film. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2024

Idit Alphandary's new book is a study of the relationship between affect and memory, trauma and testimony.It explores literary, cinematic and philosophical efforts to pave new paths of political reconciliation and restoration in the wake of collective trauma and mass atrocity.Encompassing a dizzying array of writers, filmmakers, and thinkers, the study demonstrates how the work of memory unfolds through a dialectical process involving the supposedly antithetical responses of forgiveness and resentment.In fact, it is the study's main argument that forgiveness and resentment are two interrelated responses to trauma, and that it is precisely their interdependence that renders them such potent affective agents of commemoration and cultural change in the wake of catastrophe.