If the artist has freedom to interpret past events in ways that are denied to the historian, is this an asset or an obstacle to our understanding of the past? Discuss with reference to the arts and history.

Artists have the freedom to interpret their own understanding of historical events which are denied by the historian. These perspectives change the way that we understand the past events, and this can be both an asset and an obstacle to our understanding. Freedom is the right to act, change or think as one wants without restriction. An asset is a benefit to a thing or person and an obstacle is an interference or prevention of progress or action. The Arts, encompassing literature and music, is a way of communicating a message to the world through emotion and self-expression in which history cannot as history involves exploration and inquiry into the past. Literature allows the author to convey emotions and ideas through their techniques and methods, this knowledge can influence the way that readers understand a piece of literature. Music allows the composer to illustrate an oral image to the listener and help them understand the past through unconventional music. Historians can uncover evidence from primary sources to assist their understanding of the past. However, authors writing fictional texts, their interpretation of these historical events is found using mediums and techniques like comics in which they can illustrate their ideas to their readers through emotion and opinion thus changing one’s perspectives of these events. Therefore, the methodological freedom that literature and music has can be both an asset and an obstacle to our understanding of the past.

The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was one of the most important past events of World War II. The world’s first two atomic bombs dropped on Japan from the United States, killing thousands of people by the end of 1945 and it was the survivors who felt the worst side effects from the radiation of the bombs.

The historical approach to this atomic bombing is that historians were able to understand this event through methods such as interviewing eyewitnesses, an essential primary source for information. There are so many different perspectives across the globe, and it has sparked controversy as historians all have their own interpretations and theories behind this event. Examples are traditionalists, historians who tend to argue that the atomic bombs were necessary to save American lives and prevent an invasion of Japan. While other experts, revisionists, claim that the atomic bombs were unnecessary and were dropped for other purposes, such as to intimidate the Soviet Union.

As seen from the historical approach, the purpose and motive behind the start of the bombing was their main concern however from the approach of other citizens across the globe, the aftermath of the bombing was what hit the hardest. This is seen through the Arts approach, more specifically a musical approach, in Krzysztof Penderecki’s Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima (1959). This piece was a musical interpretation exploring the emotional and terrifying aftermath of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombing. This piece is a lament (a form to express grief) and was originally called Canon for 52 Strings. He said that "It existed only in my imagination, in a somewhat abstract way." However when he heard an actual performance of his piece, "I was struck by the emotional charge of the work [...] I searched for associations and, in the end, I decided to dedicate it to the Hiroshima victims.”  Penderecki explains that this music was not protest music and that it was not inspired by any idea or image of the atomic-bomb destruction of the Japanese cities but rather he was horrified from the devastation brought by the atomic bomb and he deemed the music appropriate at the time when he was living in Poland.

The unorthodox nature of this piece produces chilling sounds, reminiscent of sounds that may have been heard at the time of the Hiroshima bombing, creating discomfort for the listener. This piece is written in a style called avant-garde, meaning cutting edge and the piece evolves, following no traditional form or structure. It is intentionally atonal and dissonant and has no melody and utilizes tone clusters which attempts to illustrate the torture, pain, and horror of the bombing for the survivors and the dead.

Through his music, Penderecki does seem to have the freedom to interpret past events and incorporate it into his music using own unconventional methods and this differs from the methods and motives of the historians. However, this is not necessary an asset to our understanding of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombing as this piece was used for entertainment and performance. The approach that Penderecki takes is exploring the aftermath of the bombing rather than the purpose behind the bomb which was the main idea of the historical approach. It doesn’t teach us much about the event historically. Though, it is also not an obstacle as it does explore the bombing in a unique, abstract, and imaginative way. It allows the listener who did not experience it firsthand, to feel the emotions that music can bring to the listener to illustrate the damage this past event had on the world and our understanding of the past.

Furthermore, there was a systematic persecution and genocide which forced six million Jews to die under the control of the Nazi regime and its allies, the Holocaust. This major past event was an evolving process that took place throughout Europe between 1933 and 1945.

There are so many different theories and interpretations to everything that happened within the Holocaust. Survivors are telling their story as a primary source and a method towards our understanding of the past. There are two different historical approaches, the ‘intentionalists’ who focus on Adolf Hitler and his ideology. In their view, the course of the Third Reich (Third Empire) was primarily determined by Hitler’s decisions, which were intended to realise the goals of an ideologically derived programme to which he had clung with fanatical consistency since the 1920s. ‘Functionalists’ focus on the structures and institutions of the Third Reich, explaining the Holocaust as an unplanned ‘cumulative radicalisation' produced by the chaotic decision-making process of a polycratic regime and ideological motivation to rid Germany of destructive elements.

The Arts approach, more specifically a literacy approach, is seen through the non-fiction graphic novel, Maus by Art Spiegelman as he explores his struggle to shape his own understanding of the cruel extermination of Polish Jews by the Nazis in World War II. This graphic novel is a medium of literature which plays a role in making the story come to life and allow the world to understand the difficulties of second-generation Holocaust survivors when coming to terms with this horrendous event. Spiegelman portrays the Holocaust as a conflict between animal characters where the Nazis are reduced to represent cats, Poles as pigs and Jews as mice. He characterises groups of people as if they were unimportant and like Hitler said, “The Jews are undoubtedly a race, but they are not human”. This effect of the use of anthropomorphic animals is that they create a distance between the characters in the novel and the real-life people they represent.

The depiction of historical trauma within the text is an asset to our understanding of the Holocaust as Maus can shock its readers through its narrative. This allows the readers to further understand the story behind this graphic novel and this makes it an important feature of contemporary culture and historical representation of the Holocaust for future generations. However, this novel is also an obstacle to our understanding of the past as authors conveying a historical event cannot always be told to its absolute certainty and novels like this are challenged all the time because people were uncomfortable with the author’s views. Therefore, though the artist does have freedom to interpret past events, they are simply based on an artist’s own opinions and emotions. On the contrary, unlike Spiegelman, historians are not able to have the imaginative freedom to interpret significant past events like the Holocaust by giving all parties, labels of animals, as it would be an obstacle to the glorification of the past.

Therefore, through the two historical events, the Holocaust and the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, artists definitely have more freedom to put their own interpretation on past events which are denied by the historian. However, the historical and art approaches have different reasonings and these interpretations can be both an asset and an obstacle to our understanding of the past as seen through Penderecki’s Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima and Spiegelman’s Maus.

Alperovitz, G. (1995). Hiroshima: Historians Reassess. Retrieved on - 06.08.22 Retrieved from - https://doi.org/10.2307/1149003

Art Spiegelman’s MAUS. (n.d.). A Different Type of Holocaust Literature. Retrieved on: 22.08.22. Retrieved from: https://faculty.georgetown.edu/bassr/218/projects/oliver/MausbyAO.htm

Keller J. (2017). Program Notes: Penderecki, Krzysztof: Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima. Retrieved on - 22.08.22. Retrieved from - https://www.sfsymphony.org/Data/Event-Data/Program-Notes/P/Penderecki-Threnody-for-the-Victims-of-Hiroshima

Nijdam, B. (n.d.). Banning “Maus” only exposes the significance of this searing graphic novel about the Holocaust. Retreieved on - Retrieved on - 02.06.22 Retrieved from: https://theconversation.com/banning - maus - only - exposes - the-significance - of - this - searing - graphic - novel - about - the - holocaust - 175999

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (2018). Introduction to the Holocaust. Retrieved on - 06.08.22. Retrieved from: https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/introduction-to-the-holocaust