'Getting to know you' Helen Finch
Tell us about your role in PtJA
I’m a co-investigator working on literature published in German by survivors of the Holocaust. I’m trying to answer the question of why some survivors were successful and ‘appropriate’ in publishing their literary testimony in German, whereas others were viewed as taboo or neglected by a German readership. My work intersects with those of my Co-Is in exciting and unexpected ways. Although I’m a bit of a project outlier in that I don’t work on performance, the writers that I work on, and the concerns that emerge from their works and their archives, speak directly to the questions at the heart of PTJA. More practically, I help to convene the reading and research group, where we’re currently looking at texts that are trying to define what empathy means and what are the dangers inherent in it. This is a tricky and controversial task! I’m also helping to organise the next three project conferences, in Cape Town, Sydney and Leeds, and I supervise a fantastic PhD student who’s working on the archives of two leading Romanian-Jewish Dada artists.
What were you doing before working on PtJA?
I was a research assistant to the now Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures, Prof. Frank Finlay, working on the neglected Holocaust survivor, writer and scholar H. G. Adler. The work we did together is at the heart of my questions on Performing the Jewish Archive – from the role of H. G. Adler in forming the conventional view of the Theresienstadt ghetto, to the relationship between a writer’s work and their archive, to the transnational way that archives and memories travel and are re-performed.
I was also teaching German literature and culture in the School of Languages, Cultures and Societies here at Leeds, which I continue to do.
What’s the best thing about working on a project like PtJA?
The enormous amount of interdisciplinary learning I gain from such an international and diverse team of scholars, from psychologists to Yiddishists to performance musicians. It’s always fun and always hectic. It’s also been very valuable to learn more about innovative ways to bring this kind of sensitive research to wide audiences and hold meaningful conversations with them about it.
What do you get the most satisfaction from professionally?
Archival work holds its own pleasures – the Aha! of finding an undiscovered gem. Overall, though, I think I love the rich variety of academic research activities, from reading, to following up unexpected leads, to debating at conferences, to public engagement, to planning our ‘impact’ activities.
What’s the biggest challenge for you on this project?
Time management! There are so many potential avenues of investigation and exciting projects to work on, and it’s hard to prioritise them all.
Outside of work, what are your interests and hobbies?
I have a small daughter who is endlessly interesting and has taught me new hobbies, such as crawling races and play-dough marbles. When I have time I do enjoy choral singing, yoga, hillwalking and wandering around strange cities… some of these activities are more compatible with toddlers than others.
Outside of work, what are the top things on your ‘bucket list’?
Hard to say! I prefer to live more in the moment than to plan that far ahead. But I would love to visit Iran, I’d love to live in a country whose language is completely new to me, and I do hope to publish some non-academic writings.
Finally, if you were stranded on a desert island what three things would you want with you?
A watering can, packets of seed and a trowel. I’d hate to be stranded alone but gardening is the one thing that could distract me from the isolation.