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Der Tod Des Widersachers (2000)

by Hans Keilson(Favorite Author)

3.59 of 5 Votes: 3

languge

English

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review 1: A testament to the palpable disdain the protagonist - ostensibly, Keilson - felt for his "adversary" (clearly, Hitler), and his ensuing internal conflict.This chronicles the evolution of Keilson's awareness of the ascension of Hitler as a political enemy, juxtaposed by personal experiences of his youth. Even as a boy, he is able to correlate rejection by his classmates with the ascension of Hitler, in situations where earlier it had not mattered. Children learn fear through adults, and the protagonist was no exception. His memories are vivid and trustworthy, including those of his father. The image of the father, packing his rucksack for a fate unknown, is achingly heartbreaking, as was the inevitability of the tragedy that was upon them, while clinging less and less to th... moree hope that "he (Hitler) wouldn't dare".Keilson also expresses his reluctance to bond with other Jewish people simply based upon the fact that they shared a common enemy. A lot of the existentialist themes of the book come from this internal conflict.His literature has all the more gravitas when taken in historical context. (His first book, "Life Goes On", was published in 1933 and subsequently banned by the Nazi party.)Hans Keilson, who died in 2011 at age 101, survived Hitler by hiding in the Netherlands and working for the Dutch resistance. His parents were sent to Auschwitz and killed.
review 2: Keilson, who survived World War II in hiding in Holland and working with the Dutch resistance, here tells a fable of a man - nameless - whose life and being is permeated by a constant obsession with a formidable adversary. Never referred to by name, the adversary is obviously Hitler. Curiously, the protagonist - who dreams of killing Hitler and feels that he is called to do so - is also somewhat ambivalent about his adversary, to whom he feels a powerful connection and even, in a strange way, a closeness or sameness. This book is powerful and disturbing; evil, it seems, is part of each of us, and it wears our own face. We might have a chance to do something about it, but we can't or won't, because it's too close to our own being. "What was the strange thought that just broke in upon me? That he was just as uncertain and wavering as I myself; that gripped by the fear of being a stranger to himself, he had raised up his adversary, me, and had painted my image on the wall, as the old painters painted their icons with sweating hands when their demon took possession of them." Keilson's prose is awkward at times, cumbersome and occasionally repetitive, which serves to underline the inward struggles of the unnamed protagonist. A very good book, but not for everybody. less

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