Dr. Yu Wang

Biography

Yu's research is situated at the intersection of Holocaust studies, memory studies, life writing, and illness narratives. His book manuscript, adapted from his dissertation defended in 2022, examines the work of four inaugural scholars in altruistic rescue within Holocaust disciplines. By initiating the sub-field of rescue Holocaust Studies in the late 1970s to early 1990s, Yu has written autobiographies on rescue experiences during the war, focusing on people's stories of rescue. His manuscript probes the multiple meanings of rescue altruism, playing an important role in the early stages of Holocaust studies while exploring authors' selfhood within various genres of writing. Currently, he is probing narratives of suffering in relation to comparative readings of scholarly autobiographies, particularly those concerning terminal illness, aging, and grief. Yu obtained his B.A. in Chinese Literature from Capital Normal University in 2014, an M.A. in East Asian and Middle Eastern Studies from Duke University in 2016, and a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the University of Toronto in 2022. His future endeavors include a research fellowship at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles focusing on Medicine, Holocaust, and Genocide Studies in 2024. He has designed and taught undergraduate courses on 'The Holocaust Literature' and 'Genocide,' and is currently accepting PhD students as a primary supervisor.

Research Interests

Experience