The Shriek of Silence: A Phenomenology of the Holocaust Novel

190 Pages·1992·20.509 MB·English

by  David Patterson

THE
SHRIEK
OF SILENCE
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THE
OFSILENCE
A Phenomenology
of the
Holocaust Novel
DAVID PATTERSON
THE UNIVERSITY PRESS OF KENTUCKY
Copyright©1992byTheUniversityPressofKentucky
Scholarlypublisherfor theCommonwealth,
servingBellarmineCollege, BereaCollege, Centre
CollegeofKentucky, EasternKentuckyUniversity,
TheFilsonClub, GeorgetownCollege, Kentucky
HistoricalSociety, KentuckyStateUniversity,
MoreheadStateUniversity, MurrayStateUniversity,
Northern KentuckyUniversity, TransylvaniaUniversity,
UniversityofKentucky, UniversityofLouisville,
andWesternKentuckyUniversity.
Editorialand Sales Offices: Lexington, Kentucky40508-4008
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Patterson, David,1948-
Theshriekofsilence :aphenomenologyoftheHolocaustnovel/
DavidPatterson.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978-0-8131-6013-9
1. Holocaust,Jewish(1939-1945),inliterature. 2. Jewish
fiction-History andcriticism. I. Title.
PN56.H55P38 1992
809'.93358-dc20 91-17269
Thisbookisprintedonacid-freepapermeeting
therequirementsoftheAmericanNationalStandard
forPermanenceofPaperforPrintedLibraryMaterials.
§
Contents
Prologue / 1
1 Theoretical Background / 3
2 The Word in Exile / 29
3 The Death of the Father / 54
4 The Death of the Child / 77
5 The Splitting of the Self / 98
6 The Resurrection of the Self / 123
7 The Implication of the Reader / 145
Epilogue / 168
Works Cited / 170
Index / 177
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For MiriaIll and Rachel
and, with deepest love
and gratitude, for Illy
wife, Gerri
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Prologue
"Anditcametopassinthosedaysthatterrordeniedalllanguagesand
frontiers" (Wiesel, Six Days5). Forthose were daysinvadedbynight,
thedaysofthereignoftheKingdomofNight.Theyaredaysthathaunt
and harrow all subsequent days, words, and deeds, cutting through
the frontiers oflanguage and meaning that might once have divided
lightfromdarkness. Terrorhasundonetimeandwithitthatbeingthat
once inhabited the heart of human being, the being of the word.
"There is no peace for'the darkened valleys," Amos Oz has said,
"somethingis risingup in the night, somethingis mounting, gather
ing, somethingissilentlyhappening" (144). Something-davar-mahin
theHebrewtext(153)-"someword"thatisnotaword,asoundthatis
notasound,burstsforthbetweenwordandwordinashriekofsilence.
From thisemerges the Holocaustnovel.
"Itistrue," ElieWieseloncetoldme, commentingontheeventof
the novel's creation. "I descend ... somewhere." He, like the others
addressed in these pages, beckons us to follow-to a place thatis no
place, wherethewordisswallowedupintowords. Itisaplacewhere
there is "no connection," to borrow a phrase from Martin Buber,
"rathershriek, shriek, andinbetweenthemtheabyss" (Daniel 86). By
what method shallwe proceed to sucha place? How shallwe under
takesuchaninvestigation?Buberoffersasuggestion: "Imaginethatat
somedreadfulmidnightyouliethere, tormentedbyawakingdream:
thebulwarkshavecrumbledandtheabyssesscream,andyourealizein
the midst of this agony that life is still there and I must merely get
through to it-buthow? how? Thus feels man in the hours when he
collectshimself: overcomebyhorror, pondering, withoutdirection" (1
and Thou llQ). Life is still there; the heart continues to beat when it
shouldhavecometoastop. Holdingthesenovelsinourhandsattests
to that. Yetin the textthatwe holdin ourhandslurks the horrorthat
threatensus,theexilethatimplicatesus.Themethod,therefore,settles
nothing. Indeed,itisunsettlingintheextreme,andthatisthepoint:to
speakandbreakintheefforttorespondtothetestimonyentrustedto
us.Forunlesswearebrokenbyourresponsetothevoiceandtheevent
of the Holocaust novel, we can never open up to its outcry. Only by
becoming such a wound do we gain even the tiniest access to these
wounded ones.