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Theories of aesthetics and representation addressing the Holocaust have been characterized by assertions of the unrepresentability of this genocide. From a maximal position cautioning against representing the Holocaust or denying its very possibility to moderate positions underlining the ethical and aesthetic challenges and problems of the endeavor, these theories have dominated discussion of the subject for decades and have lead to the formation of a canon of Holocaust literature that confirms the salience of these theoretical approaches. Beyond this canon, however, things look quite different. From writing in the ghettos and concentration camps to a proliferation of literature in the immediate aftermath of the Holocaust, works in a range of languages — but especially in Yiddish — have not only raised a different set of ethical and aesthetic questions about representing the Holocaust, but have arguably bypassed or even negated the broader theoretical consensus. This course will survey both “sides” of the debate, ranging over an array of theoretical approaches to and literary representations of the Holocaust. The objective of the course is to find where the two approaches meet and to account for their divergences.