KADDISH FOR A CHILD NOT BORN

by Imre "Kertâsz ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 1, 1997

This stunning râcit (first published in 1990) by the highly praised Hungarian author of Fateless (1992, not reviewed) traces how its anonymous narrator's experiences in the Holocaust lead him to make an intense, embittered rejection of all life: He refuses to father children, or even to believe in a future for humanity. As his grieving voice harangues and challenges us, we're drawn deep inside a shattered personal history whose downward spiral began even before the war, in an abused and despairing childhood. The bleak sensibility thus portrayed resembles such other memorably declamatory fictions as Camus's The Fall and Dostoyevsky's Notes from the Underground. Yes, Kertâsz's Kaddish is that good.

Pub Date: July 1, 1997

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 96

Publisher: Northwestern Univ.

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1997

Categories: FICTION