„Ordentliche Regulierung des Außerordentlichen“ Beobachtungen zu H.G. Adlers Eine Reise.

Abstract

H(ans) G(ünter) Adler (1910–1988), the author of the monumental history of the Theresienstadt ghetto (1955 / 1960), also wrote several novels or fragments of novels, of which three were published during his life. The novel Eine Reise (1962 / 1999) is considered his best. Praised by authors such as Elias Canetti, Heinrich Böll, and Heimito von Doderer as a modernist novel in the tradition of the Prague School, it has so far received only scant attention by literary critics (with the exception of Jeremy Adler and Ruth Vogel-Klein). This article concentrates on the narrative structure and technique of the novel, and it follows Adler’s intention to represent the tragic journey of one family from Prague to Theresienstadt and Auschwitz as a universal parable of Jewish suffering during the Nazi period. This almost timeless and universal representation of the Holocaust and anti-Semitism, in which Adler intentionally avoids speaking of Jews and Germans, victims and murderers, is critically evaluated at the end of the article. (KLB; in German)