A Parallel Universe of Pain

Benjamin, Ross, Moment

The Journey

By H.G. Adler

Translated by Peter Filkins

Random House

2008, $26, pp. 320

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H.G. Adler's The Journey is a Holocaust novel that contains no explicit reference to Jews, Nazis, ghettos, concentration camps or Auschwitz. Instead, Adler presents his account in a generalized, anonymous mode reminiscent of a fable or fairy tale. It begins in the second person: "No one asked you, it was decided already, you were rounded up and not one kind word was spoken." Messengers come into homes bearing a decree: "Thou shalt not dwell among us." For the recipients of this message, a litany of prohibitions made life impossible: "Shops were forbidden, doctors, hospitals, vehicles, and resting places, forbidden, all forbidden. Laundries were forbidden, libraries were forbidden.... What was and what could be were forbidden." Those whose entire world and future existence have been abolished turn into "ghosts;" there is no longer any name for …

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Publication information: Article title: A Parallel Universe of Pain. Contributors: Benjamin, Ross - Author. Magazine title: Moment. Volume: 33. Issue: 6 Publication date: November-December 2008. Page number: 85+. © 2009 Moment Magazine. COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale Group.

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