It's certainly telling that the first few comments are connected to whether or not what once happened is equivalent to what's happening now in various places across the world. There are vast difference, of course; there are also many troubling similarities. In one sense, the conversation is the first step, but the shouting and the blaming remains distinctly predictable, as in this day and age of ideological (identitarian?) outrage, it's rare to discuss contemporary examples of humanity's brutality towards itself without wanting to qualify it, compare it, argue how one group of humans is better/worse/different than the other ... and so the beat goes on, hence why I wrote The Requisitions. Thank you for the thoughtful reading and review.
One small note: the detail of the character being addicted to amphetamines is spot on and actually quite important. There's been excellent scholarship recently showing that amphetamine addiction was pervasive across the society of the third Reich, to the point where it arguably had a geopolitical influence on the war itself
I had to do quite a bit of re-writing when I found out about just how widespread the use of Pervitin was during the war ... it turns out the Carl character wasn't just drowning his sorrows with booze. Wildly enough it turns out Pervitin is still a very prominent amphetamine today ... I was recently in Budapest and asked the young folk what the party scene was, and without hesitation they said "Pervitin." The more things change ...
This comment is regarding your statement, "And given the murderous fascism that ... is especially conspicuous today...." Hyperbole like this numbs people to how horrible things really were and could again be. Please consider what the terms "Nazi" and "fascism" really refer to and whether your seemingly casual use of them is responsible (let alone appropriate) to describe current events.
How many more people do the USA need to slaughter before they qualify as fascist? If you're concerned that USA is short a couple hundred or thousand victims, don't worry, surely they will catch up very soon.
Disclosure: I am a second generation of the Holocaust. I prefer to use the term Shoah. I have nothing against novels about this period. I am writing MY journey through. My dad, who left the Reich in 1933, never told about his parents. The Nazis deported them from Worms in 1942, and murdered my grandmother in Belzec. He probably died in the Piaski Ghetto. Therefore, I IMAGINE what could be. However, there are facts that I cannot ignore after I research them. Two reports from the US Holocaust Memorial Museum detail their deportation and murder.
My point is that from the review I cannot understand if the author gives the impression of being a witness, or more accurately, if the reader can get this impression.In this scenario I would prefer Primo Levi statement (I might not be strictly quoting) that only the survivor can testify. This delimitation is extremely important. It does not contradict fictionalization; it just restores the fact that an author is in the text, in any novel, but in this kind of novels it should be shown. The other point is the intrusion of Gaza in the review. I share the disgust about what the Israeli army ordered by the government, does there. Other disclosure: I am an Israeli. Let's consider Ben-Naphtali's interview of Derrida at the Israeli Holocaust museum, Yad Vashem. In "Forgiving," Derrida focuses on the Holocaust's singular, unforgettable character, especially its name, Shoah. He believes electing this Unicity could prevent future genocides from being acknowledged and condemned. And this is my last point: the title of the post: The Banality of Evil . Hannah Arendt created this concept, which opened the door to amalgam all holocausts and this one, with a lack of intention. Gaza is not Auschwitz, and its horror should not find its place in the review of a book which I understand, despite my reserve, brings the Uniqueness of it and its other human aspects. Hence, Shoah is the reason why the category of crime against HUMANITY was introduced in our discourse..
Thank you for your thoughtful response, Gil. I wholly agree with Primo Levi's assertion that only the survivor can testify. This was a major reason why 1) from the first page in The Requisitions, the narrator acknowledges that it is not only a work of fiction, for the narrator did not live through the Shoah, but more to the point, the very idea of history vs. memory comes down to a question of individual experience 2) I made a point not to try and write what it *felt like* to live in the Lodz Ghetto so much as how the internal life / soul might try and find meaning in such a particularly brutal moment in human history (Viktor Frankl was the primary inspiration for the novel's protagonist). The primary sources covering the experience in the ghettos & camps, from Tadeusz Borowski to Emannuel Ringelblum to Calel Perechodnik et al., are referred to in the novel as inroads for further research, but the fictional story, which makes up the majority of the text, is largely based on providing readers with an impression of how we might remain human (and humane) during inhumane times, regardless of when those times might be. If you do find yourself reading the book, it'd be an honor to hear your thoughts / continue the conversation: slopezba@gmail.com
maybe after the Gazan have their own novels, movies, music, sports, and video games, people will finally see them as a unique culture distinct from Jordan, Egypt and their forefathers in Iran
It's certainly telling that the first few comments are connected to whether or not what once happened is equivalent to what's happening now in various places across the world. There are vast difference, of course; there are also many troubling similarities. In one sense, the conversation is the first step, but the shouting and the blaming remains distinctly predictable, as in this day and age of ideological (identitarian?) outrage, it's rare to discuss contemporary examples of humanity's brutality towards itself without wanting to qualify it, compare it, argue how one group of humans is better/worse/different than the other ... and so the beat goes on, hence why I wrote The Requisitions. Thank you for the thoughtful reading and review.
This is an excellent review thank you.
One small note: the detail of the character being addicted to amphetamines is spot on and actually quite important. There's been excellent scholarship recently showing that amphetamine addiction was pervasive across the society of the third Reich, to the point where it arguably had a geopolitical influence on the war itself
I had to do quite a bit of re-writing when I found out about just how widespread the use of Pervitin was during the war ... it turns out the Carl character wasn't just drowning his sorrows with booze. Wildly enough it turns out Pervitin is still a very prominent amphetamine today ... I was recently in Budapest and asked the young folk what the party scene was, and without hesitation they said "Pervitin." The more things change ...
I had no idea it still went by the same brand name all these decades later it's wild
This comment is regarding your statement, "And given the murderous fascism that ... is especially conspicuous today...." Hyperbole like this numbs people to how horrible things really were and could again be. Please consider what the terms "Nazi" and "fascism" really refer to and whether your seemingly casual use of them is responsible (let alone appropriate) to describe current events.
How many more people do the USA need to slaughter before they qualify as fascist? If you're concerned that USA is short a couple hundred or thousand victims, don't worry, surely they will catch up very soon.
Disclosure: I am a second generation of the Holocaust. I prefer to use the term Shoah. I have nothing against novels about this period. I am writing MY journey through. My dad, who left the Reich in 1933, never told about his parents. The Nazis deported them from Worms in 1942, and murdered my grandmother in Belzec. He probably died in the Piaski Ghetto. Therefore, I IMAGINE what could be. However, there are facts that I cannot ignore after I research them. Two reports from the US Holocaust Memorial Museum detail their deportation and murder.
My point is that from the review I cannot understand if the author gives the impression of being a witness, or more accurately, if the reader can get this impression.In this scenario I would prefer Primo Levi statement (I might not be strictly quoting) that only the survivor can testify. This delimitation is extremely important. It does not contradict fictionalization; it just restores the fact that an author is in the text, in any novel, but in this kind of novels it should be shown. The other point is the intrusion of Gaza in the review. I share the disgust about what the Israeli army ordered by the government, does there. Other disclosure: I am an Israeli. Let's consider Ben-Naphtali's interview of Derrida at the Israeli Holocaust museum, Yad Vashem. In "Forgiving," Derrida focuses on the Holocaust's singular, unforgettable character, especially its name, Shoah. He believes electing this Unicity could prevent future genocides from being acknowledged and condemned. And this is my last point: the title of the post: The Banality of Evil . Hannah Arendt created this concept, which opened the door to amalgam all holocausts and this one, with a lack of intention. Gaza is not Auschwitz, and its horror should not find its place in the review of a book which I understand, despite my reserve, brings the Uniqueness of it and its other human aspects. Hence, Shoah is the reason why the category of crime against HUMANITY was introduced in our discourse..
Thank you for your thoughtful response, Gil. I wholly agree with Primo Levi's assertion that only the survivor can testify. This was a major reason why 1) from the first page in The Requisitions, the narrator acknowledges that it is not only a work of fiction, for the narrator did not live through the Shoah, but more to the point, the very idea of history vs. memory comes down to a question of individual experience 2) I made a point not to try and write what it *felt like* to live in the Lodz Ghetto so much as how the internal life / soul might try and find meaning in such a particularly brutal moment in human history (Viktor Frankl was the primary inspiration for the novel's protagonist). The primary sources covering the experience in the ghettos & camps, from Tadeusz Borowski to Emannuel Ringelblum to Calel Perechodnik et al., are referred to in the novel as inroads for further research, but the fictional story, which makes up the majority of the text, is largely based on providing readers with an impression of how we might remain human (and humane) during inhumane times, regardless of when those times might be. If you do find yourself reading the book, it'd be an honor to hear your thoughts / continue the conversation: slopezba@gmail.com
Very well written...thank you
maybe after the Gazan have their own novels, movies, music, sports, and video games, people will finally see them as a unique culture distinct from Jordan, Egypt and their forefathers in Iran