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The Wall
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Compared by critics to Kafka, Joyce, and Musil, H. G. Adler is becoming recognized as one of the towering figures of twentieth-century fiction. Nobel Prize winner Elias Canetti wrote that “Adler has restored hope to modern literature,” and the first two novels rediscovered after his death, Panorama and The Journey, were acclaimed as “modernist masterpieces” by The New Yorker . Now his magnum opus, The Wall, the final installment of Adler’s Shoah trilogy and his crowning achievement as a novelist, is available for the first time in English.
Drawing upon Adler’s own experiences in the Holocaust and his postwar life, The Wall , like the other works in the trilogy, nonetheless avoids detailed historical specifics. The novel tells the story of Arthur Landau, survivor of a wartime atrocity, a man struggling with his nightmares and his memories of the past as he strives to forge a new life for himself. Haunted by the death of his wife, Franziska, he returns to the city of his youth and receives confirmation of his parents’ fates, then crosses the border and leaves his homeland for good.
Embarking on a life of exile, he continues searching for his place within the world. He attempts to publish his study of the victims of the war, yet he is treated with curiosity, competitiveness, and contempt by fellow intellectuals who escaped the conflict unscathed. Afflicted with survivor’s guilt, Arthur tries to leave behind the horrors of the past and find a foothold in the present. Ultimately, it is the love of his second wife, Johanna, and his two children that allows him to reaffirm his humanity while remembering all he’s left behind.
The Wall is a magnificent epic of survival and redemption, powerfully told through stream of consciousness and suffused with daydream, fantasy, memory, nightmare, and pure imagination. More than a portrait of a Holocaust survivor’s journey, it is a universal novel about recovering from the traumas of the past and finding a way to live again.
Praise for The Wall
“[A] majestic novel . . . Adler’s prose is tidal, surge after narrative surge rushing forward and then enigmatically receding, the moment displaced by memory, and memory by introspective soliloquy.” —Cynthia Ozick, The New York Times Book Review
“A towering meditation on the self and spirit . . . The writing is sonorous and so entirely devastating that the reader is compelled to pore over every word.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Masterful and utterly unique.” —The Jerusalem Post
“Haunting and utterly heart-wrenching . . . a literary masterpiece.” —Historical Novels Review
“An epic novel . . . an unforgettable portrait.” —The Jewish Week
“[A] pensive portrait of a man struggling to find a place in the world after enduring transformative calamity . . . an eloquent record of suffering—and perhaps of redemption as well.” — Kirkus Reviews
Praise for H. G. Adler’s novels The Journey and Panorama, translated by Peter Filkins
“Modernist masterpieces worthy of comparison to those of Kafka or Musil.” — The New Yorker
“Haunting . . . as remarkable for its literary experimentation as for its historical testimony.” —San Francisco Chronicle , on Panorama
Compared by critics to Kafka, Joyce, and Musil, H. G. Adler is becoming recognized as one of the towering figures of twentieth-century fiction. Nobel Prize winner Elias Canetti wrote that “Adler has restored hope to modern literature,” and the first two novels rediscovered after his death, Panorama and The Journey, were acclaimed as “modernist masterpieces” by The New Yorker . Now his magnum opus, The Wall, the final installment of Adler’s Shoah trilogy and his crowning achievement as a novelist, is available for the first time in English.
Drawing upon Adler’s own experiences in the Holocaust and his postwar life, The Wall , like the other works in the trilogy, nonetheless avoids detailed historical specifics. The novel tells the story of Arthur Landau, survivor of a wartime atrocity, a man struggling with his nightmares and his memories of the past as he strives to forge a new life for himself. Haunted by the death of his wife, Franziska, he returns to the city of his youth and receives confirmation of his parents’ fates, then crosses the border and leaves his homeland for good.
Embarking on a life of exile, he continues searching for his place within the world. He attempts to publish his study of the victims of the war, yet he is treated with curiosity, competitiveness, and contempt by fellow intellectuals who escaped the conflict unscathed. Afflicted with survivor’s guilt, Arthur tries to leave behind the horrors of the past and find a foothold in the present. Ultimately, it is the love of his second wife, Johanna, and his two children that allows him to reaffirm his humanity while remembering all he’s left behind.
The Wall is a magnificent epic of survival and redemption, powerfully told through stream of consciousness and suffused with daydream, fantasy, memory, nightmare, and pure imagination. More than a portrait of a Holocaust survivor’s journey, it is a universal novel about recovering from the traumas of the past and finding a way to live again.
Praise for The Wall
“[A] majestic novel . . . Adler’s prose is tidal, surge after narrative surge rushing forward and then enigmatically receding, the moment displaced by memory, and memory by introspective soliloquy.” —Cynthia Ozick, The New York Times Book Review
“A towering meditation on the self and spirit . . . The writing is sonorous and so entirely devastating that the reader is compelled to pore over every word.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Masterful and utterly unique.” —The Jerusalem Post
“Haunting and utterly heart-wrenching . . . a literary masterpiece.” —Historical Novels Review
“An epic novel . . . an unforgettable portrait.” —The Jewish Week
“[A] pensive portrait of a man struggling to find a place in the world after enduring transformative calamity . . . an eloquent record of suffering—and perhaps of redemption as well.” — Kirkus Reviews
Praise for H. G. Adler’s novels The Journey and Panorama, translated by Peter Filkins
“Modernist masterpieces worthy of comparison to those of Kafka or Musil.” — The New Yorker
“Haunting . . . as remarkable for its literary experimentation as for its historical testimony.” —San Francisco Chronicle , on Panorama
630 pages, Hardcover
First published December 2, 2014
24 people are currently reading
1036 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
May 20, 2016
The Wall: A Novel, was not an easy read, by any stretch of the imagination or emotions.
I found myself within the depths of a depressed mind, and not always aware of whether Arthur Landau, the main character, was in a delusional state or having a moment of clarity and/or reality.
He was in a constant melancholy state, unable to garner the energy to do simple tasks.
I am aware (through reading about 1,000 Holocaust memoirs and fiction), of the ways that the horrors of the Holocaust affected thousands upon thousands of individuals, even decades post WWII. Children of Holocaust victims, and later generations are also affected by the traumas inflicted on their loved ones. Adler's story depicts this premise intensely, not sugar-coating scenes, events or social interactions. Arthur Landau's desolation and feelings of displacement are apparent. And, from what I have read about Adler, his books are a depiction of his own life, his own history.
H.G. Adler's writing was extremely saddening, yet masterful.
I found myself within the depths of a depressed mind, and not always aware of whether Arthur Landau, the main character, was in a delusional state or having a moment of clarity and/or reality.
He was in a constant melancholy state, unable to garner the energy to do simple tasks.
I am aware (through reading about 1,000 Holocaust memoirs and fiction), of the ways that the horrors of the Holocaust affected thousands upon thousands of individuals, even decades post WWII. Children of Holocaust victims, and later generations are also affected by the traumas inflicted on their loved ones. Adler's story depicts this premise intensely, not sugar-coating scenes, events or social interactions. Arthur Landau's desolation and feelings of displacement are apparent. And, from what I have read about Adler, his books are a depiction of his own life, his own history.
H.G. Adler's writing was extremely saddening, yet masterful.
December 31, 2014
This is the third book of Adler’s “Shoah Trilogy” (after “The Journery” and “Panorama”). Like Elie Wiesel, he is a holocaust survivor (of four different camps) and brings a unique prospective to his fiction. One of his other books is about the ‘model camp’ Theresienstadt (Terezin in Czech) where the character Arthur Landau’s grandmother was interned. Though the story was written right after the war, it wasn’t published until 1989.
The main character, Arthur Landau, returns to his native city (which seems like Prague) but later moves to the Metropolis (but seems like London) just after the war. He looks to find out what happened to his parents. He goes back to his father’s old haberdashery store which he finds boarded up. Next door is a fruit stand run by a man who never got along with his family. He is told by the old man that they were ‘deported’ during the war to Auschwitz and are most likely dead.
While in his native city, he begins working on a book called the “Sociology of Oppressed People” but can’t find a publisher in the new socialist country. He goes to work at a ‘museum’ that collects the property of the ‘people’ who were sent to the concentration camps. While at the museum he writes to a friend who emigrated before the war to the Metropolis.
With his friend’s help he is able to emigrate. There he meets his second wife Johanna (his first wife died in the Holocaust) and has two children (a boy and a girl). He later is accepted into a circle of prewar intellectuals who had settled in the Metropolis and laud Arthur as the new Adam.
Because the book is written in stream of consciousness, there are no chapters or breaks in the story. This becomes problematic to the reader when trying to distinguish between Arthur’s dreams and musings about his time in the Camps and before the War. Everything can get jumbled up in the story and is sometimes taken to the absurdist extreme when ‘pallbearers’ come to pick-up Arthur for his funeral, though they can see he’s not dead.
As to the title of the book, Arthur sees things from the other side of a wall. For me the wall represents Arthur’s experience in the Camps which can’t be explained to people who weren’t there. It’s a personal experience that other people can’t be made to understand and therefore he’s always set apart from the rest of the world by this “Wall”. An amazing story, with a monumental translation.
Zeb Kantrowitz zworstblog.blogspot.com
The main character, Arthur Landau, returns to his native city (which seems like Prague) but later moves to the Metropolis (but seems like London) just after the war. He looks to find out what happened to his parents. He goes back to his father’s old haberdashery store which he finds boarded up. Next door is a fruit stand run by a man who never got along with his family. He is told by the old man that they were ‘deported’ during the war to Auschwitz and are most likely dead.
While in his native city, he begins working on a book called the “Sociology of Oppressed People” but can’t find a publisher in the new socialist country. He goes to work at a ‘museum’ that collects the property of the ‘people’ who were sent to the concentration camps. While at the museum he writes to a friend who emigrated before the war to the Metropolis.
With his friend’s help he is able to emigrate. There he meets his second wife Johanna (his first wife died in the Holocaust) and has two children (a boy and a girl). He later is accepted into a circle of prewar intellectuals who had settled in the Metropolis and laud Arthur as the new Adam.
Because the book is written in stream of consciousness, there are no chapters or breaks in the story. This becomes problematic to the reader when trying to distinguish between Arthur’s dreams and musings about his time in the Camps and before the War. Everything can get jumbled up in the story and is sometimes taken to the absurdist extreme when ‘pallbearers’ come to pick-up Arthur for his funeral, though they can see he’s not dead.
As to the title of the book, Arthur sees things from the other side of a wall. For me the wall represents Arthur’s experience in the Camps which can’t be explained to people who weren’t there. It’s a personal experience that other people can’t be made to understand and therefore he’s always set apart from the rest of the world by this “Wall”. An amazing story, with a monumental translation.
Zeb Kantrowitz zworstblog.blogspot.com
June 14, 2017
"finished" this one today, 14 jun 17. type "the wall" into the search for books and you get everything but. had to find this one on goodreads by internet search-engine. c'est la vie. filkins is the translator and he had an introduction here, read that, looked at a review or two, had the sense that this would be difficult. ummm, yes and no. it's not too difficult to figure the when that doesn't necessarily follow any linear progression, though it does in a sense. the wall.
two stars. it was okay.
and truth be told, i grew tired of reading of arthur landeau's repeated failures to exist. so around the 80% mark read i skimmed ahead to the end, see if anything changes. at most, maybe a realization, though a realization happens throughout...seemingly to no avail. often...when reading stories like this...the fabled "survivor's tale" i've gotten a sense that if any wall exists, it exists because it was constructed by the owner. and if the owner lacked for bricks, others are and were willing to provide brick, mortar, and labor. and nobody has been more pleased or proud of the wall than the owner of the wall. (adam hid in the garden...and so it goes.)
at times, reading other stories like this...not only have i gotten a sense that nobody knows how i feel, whoa, whoa is me...or, only those who have spent time surviving can possibly know, the world is beneath them. confident, they are, in their happy camp, stooped and crouching toward bethlehem. such an idiotology of the bent and stooped...certainly can't be dumped here, no matter how i rattle on and keep rattling.
did i like anything about this? yes. the metaphysical. the metaphorical. adam. the garden. the wall. existence. (alienation with a twist) the metropolis. you never know, really, where you are. the museum. heh! could upgrade to three stars...but meh. maybe i'll return to it and try to finish up...it reads slow...it is a long, long slog. and...reminds me of the depressed person, on the couch. get up! yeah, like that works. it doesn't...and even reassuring the depressed that this too shall pass rings hollow in the end.
onto something else.
two stars. it was okay.
and truth be told, i grew tired of reading of arthur landeau's repeated failures to exist. so around the 80% mark read i skimmed ahead to the end, see if anything changes. at most, maybe a realization, though a realization happens throughout...seemingly to no avail. often...when reading stories like this...the fabled "survivor's tale" i've gotten a sense that if any wall exists, it exists because it was constructed by the owner. and if the owner lacked for bricks, others are and were willing to provide brick, mortar, and labor. and nobody has been more pleased or proud of the wall than the owner of the wall. (adam hid in the garden...and so it goes.)
at times, reading other stories like this...not only have i gotten a sense that nobody knows how i feel, whoa, whoa is me...or, only those who have spent time surviving can possibly know, the world is beneath them. confident, they are, in their happy camp, stooped and crouching toward bethlehem. such an idiotology of the bent and stooped...certainly can't be dumped here, no matter how i rattle on and keep rattling.
did i like anything about this? yes. the metaphysical. the metaphorical. adam. the garden. the wall. existence. (alienation with a twist) the metropolis. you never know, really, where you are. the museum. heh! could upgrade to three stars...but meh. maybe i'll return to it and try to finish up...it reads slow...it is a long, long slog. and...reminds me of the depressed person, on the couch. get up! yeah, like that works. it doesn't...and even reassuring the depressed that this too shall pass rings hollow in the end.
onto something else.
January 29, 2017
I realised this was 3rd in a trilogy after I had started reading it when I Googled it to find out more about it. Nothing in the blurb or inside cover suggested it was part of a series. That being said it sounded like it could be read alone.
I very rarely give up on a book but 50 pages in I had no idea what was going on. No chapter or section breaks. No way of telling when time has moved in. No way of telling whether the events are his fears for the future, a dream, a hallucination or actually happening. Sometimes the shift happens without me noticing and sometimes you could read 10 pages and then realise none of it happened.
Far too confusing and did not feel the few nice descriptions were worth the effort.
I very rarely give up on a book but 50 pages in I had no idea what was going on. No chapter or section breaks. No way of telling when time has moved in. No way of telling whether the events are his fears for the future, a dream, a hallucination or actually happening. Sometimes the shift happens without me noticing and sometimes you could read 10 pages and then realise none of it happened.
Far too confusing and did not feel the few nice descriptions were worth the effort.
October 30, 2022
I think this is a very subtle book. To call it either "good" or "bad" or one, or five stars ( yellow stars, how strange) is to miss some essential emotion that permeates the entire story. To know just a few of the details of H.G. Adler's life, and to hold these facts in one's head as one reads, fills in the odd blankness of this narrative dream of a life completely lost. Also the strangeness of friends indifference and outright hostility to his history and mild pleas for simple assistance becomes stunning in context.
There is no mention of anything specific, so you the reader has to fill in the blanks. There is no mention of concentration camps, nazi murders, or world war 2. The negative spaces stand as empty air surrounding a narrative that ebbs and flows (thank you Cynthia Ozick) courtesy of a fellow countryman of F. Kafka and fellow citizen of Prague. I did not find this morose or depressing as others here have stated. Instead I found this to be a dream of a shattered life, written by someone long gone from belief or understanding in any normal sense of living, yet written without affect.
There is no mention of anything specific, so you the reader has to fill in the blanks. There is no mention of concentration camps, nazi murders, or world war 2. The negative spaces stand as empty air surrounding a narrative that ebbs and flows (thank you Cynthia Ozick) courtesy of a fellow countryman of F. Kafka and fellow citizen of Prague. I did not find this morose or depressing as others here have stated. Instead I found this to be a dream of a shattered life, written by someone long gone from belief or understanding in any normal sense of living, yet written without affect.
April 1, 2019
Couldn't finish it. Pages and pages of introspection.
August 25, 2015
Where to start?
A very difficult book to get through, yet it held me to the end. Very dark, and at times ( especially early ) very hard to follow. Vague as to the specifics of loss and inhuman treatment at the hands of the Nazis ( though not named); loss of family, community, dignity, and thematically, self. Pathos and nightmares, failure and rejection all follow. Slowly, the reader grows to begin to understand the devastation of self, imposed on Arthur Landau. Though his new life exists, he has a wife, two kids and a career, he no longer, is.
Not a summer beach read. 3.84/5.
A very difficult book to get through, yet it held me to the end. Very dark, and at times ( especially early ) very hard to follow. Vague as to the specifics of loss and inhuman treatment at the hands of the Nazis ( though not named); loss of family, community, dignity, and thematically, self. Pathos and nightmares, failure and rejection all follow. Slowly, the reader grows to begin to understand the devastation of self, imposed on Arthur Landau. Though his new life exists, he has a wife, two kids and a career, he no longer, is.
Not a summer beach read. 3.84/5.
Want to read
November 10, 2014Third and final: first two novels rediscovered after his death, Panorama and The Journey, were acclaimed as “modernist masterpieces” by The New Yorker. Now his magnum opus, The Wall, the final installment of Adler’s Shoah trilogy and his crowning achievement as a novelist, is available for the first time in English.
Want to read
December 12, 2014Adding this to my TBR list based on Adam Kirsch's review for Tablet: http://tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-...
Read
August 29, 2007It's worth learning German just to be able to read Adler. Amazing what he can do. (Anna, are you listening?)
January 12, 2015
Kindle -- even if I read the previous 2 books, I would not have given this a higher mark. I am not partial to laments, even though I understand those books have a place. I prefer a good story.
Read
June 23, 2016too long
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews