The Immortal Bartfuss

by Aharon Appelfeld

Set in contemporary Israel, The Immortal Bartfuss is perhaps the most profound and powerful portrait of a Holocaust survivor ever drawn. Using the techniques of omission and indirection perfected in such masterpieces as Badenheim 1939 and To the Land of the Cattails, Appelfeld tells the story of Bartfuss, enigmatically "the immortal" because of his experience in the camps. Now locked in a hopeless marriage, Bartfuss struggles to suppress the emotions and recollections he fears and despises, while trying to keep alive the poise, dignity, and compassion essential to a human being. The Immortal Bartfuss is an overwhelming and unforgettable study of a man reduced to his tragic limits.

Genres: Fiction, Israel, Jewish, Holocaust, Literature, Middle East, Novels

138 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

AHARON APPELFELD is the author of more than forty works of fiction and nonfiction, including Until the Dawn's Light and The Iron Tracks (both winners of the National Jewish Book Award) and The Story of a Life (winner of the Prix Médicis Étranger). Other honors he has received include the Giovanni Bocaccio Literary Prize, the Nelly Sachs Prize, the Israel Prize, the Bialik Prize, the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize, and the MLA Commonwealth Award. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and has received honorary degrees from the Jewish Theological Seminary, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, and Yeshiva University.

Reviews

[SCARABOOKS · Rating 4 out of 5]

La letteratura dei sopravvissuti è una delle cose che fa grandissima ed universale la letteratura israeliana. Questo, nel genere, è un piccolo capolavoro. Riuscire a raccontare l'indicibile senza dirlo richiede una abilità narrativa straordinaria. E' questa la qualità migliore dei questo libro.

Per chi volesse approfondire, questo articolo, dice l’essenziale e lo dice bene

https://ilmanifesto.it/aharon-appelfeld/

[Μαρία Δριμή · Rating 5 out of 5]

Συγκλονιστική αποτύπωση της ψυχολογίας ενός επιζήσαντος των στρατοπέδων συγκέντρωσης. Ένας άνθρωπος-φάντασμα χωρίς οράματα, με λειψές ανθρώπινες επαφές, περιφέρεται αδιάκοπα χωρίς ουσιαστικό σκοπό, κρατώντας βαθιά κρυμμένο το παρελθόν του, το φοβερό κομμάτι της ζωής του που τον μετέτρεψε σε σκιά. Αριστούργημα.

[Jonathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Masterful. Shades of Beckett at times, but very much its own. Things precisely elided.

[Samuel · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Immortal Bartfuss is one of Aharon Appelfeld's lesser known works, while also an outstanding example of Appelfeld's writing and 20th century Israeli literature. This was one of three novels I read as part of a comparative literature study for my master's degree; it is a work of realistic historical fiction with an autobiographical influence. As is the case for many of his novels, The Immortal Bartfuss is largely inspired from Appelfeld's experience as a teenager surviving the Holocaust. Appelfeld's writing style is of concise yet poignant language, and this is similarly reflected in the English translation of the novel. The plot revolves around Bartfuss, a middle-aged Holocaust survivor living in Israel with his wife and two daughters, confronted with the psychological aftermath of his past while making a new life in the Jewish State. I was intrigued to read in a previous review that another reader found that Bartfuss' interactions were difficult to decipher, as if he were interacting with ghosts. While I do not think that Bartfuss was actually dealing with ghosts, there is a strong sense of "déjà-vu," or living with one foot in a previous life, a life left behind in Holocaust Europe, and a new life in the present-day. This is definitely not a narrative to read for a straight-forward plot, as it seems as though not much actually happens over the course of the book. While Bartfuss establishes a more meaningful relationship with his daughter, and consequently a more sound and arguably empathetic version of himself, the interactions he has with his former acquaintances from Italy slowly cause him to minimally evolve as a character. In my view, the "Immortal Bartfuss" is a metaphor for the cyclical patterns of psychological trauma endured by Holocaust survivors, which in the period endured by Appelfeld, were largely magnified by the founding society of the State of Israel. It is one of Appelfeld's few works that actually takes place in Israel, and various points around Tel Aviv are mentioned as Bartfuss goes about his daily life. This book is definitely not everyone's cup of tea, and an understanding of the psychology of Holocaust survivors is necessary to better understand the narrative, as that is largely the focus beyond that of a dynamic plot progression. In any case, I found this to be a fascinating, unique read.

[Chrystal · Rating 2 out of 5]

Translated from the Hebrew -

This book captured my attention right from the beginning. I was pulled in by the spare, succinct language and the mysterious way the author presents the character of Bartfuss. Sadly, about 1/3 of the way in, it becomes very confusing and I didn't know what was going on, either in reality, or in Bartfuss's mind. It is all confusion. He meets people that he hasn't seen since the war, but they're really ghosts, aren't they? His conversations with them make no sense. They all remember him as someone who has done great things during or after the Holocaust, but we never find out what they are, and he still thinks that he needs to do something for the survivors, but he can't seem to find out what to do. He wanders around the beach all day and sits in cafes all night; he tries to give people money, but they won't accept his gifts. He supposedly has a treasure buried in the cellar, but then again, is that real?

Very confusing and left me up in the air, disappointed after such a spectacular beginning.

[Elisa S · Rating 4 out of 5]

Έχοντας διαβάσει πολλές μαρτυρίες, πολλά βιβλία σχετικά με το Ολοκαύτωμα, πολλές σελίδες ιστορικών μυθιστορημάτων που αποτυπώνουν σε εξαιρετικό βαθμό εικόνες και συναισθήματα των "πρωταγωνιστών", οφείλω να πω ότι αυτό το ψυχογράφημα, τολμώ να πω, του, ενδεχομένως, κρυμμένου εαυτού του Αππελφελντ, μας βάζει σε φέρνει αντιμέτωπους με τη σκληρή πραγματικότητα της ζωής του επιζώντα. Ενός επιζώντα που στην ουσία δεν ξέρει τι να κάνει με τη ζωή του, που δεν μπορεί να χαρεί τη ζωή του πραγματικά, που υποφέρει μέσα στο οικογενειακό περιβάλλον, που δεν καταφέρνει καν να κοιμηθεί...

Το επίμετρο του Ζουμπουλάκη ήταν μια εξαιρετική ανάλυση του κειμένου και το απολαύσαμε δεόντως!

[Claudia · Rating 4 out of 5]

GRUPPO LETTURA scritto da un autore israeliano unico e diverso dagli altri: per la prima volta non c’è ironia, speranza; non parla di rinascita. L’autore ha una scrittura fluida, lenta ed introspettiva. Con La ripetizione ed il rimarcare delle parole, fissa concetti ed eventi. Aharon Appelfeld ritrae in queste pagine una nuova figura di sopravvissuto alla Shoah, quella dell’antieroe che, nostalgico di un passato che è stato anche la sua tragedia, è ormai incapace di costruirsi una nuova esistenza. Il protagonista, Bartfuss e’ sopravvissuto in un campo dì concentramento; fuggito è venuto in Italia e poi è andato in Israele, la terra promessa. Bartfuss e’ immortale a detta di tutti, in quanto colpito da cinquanta pallottole. Personaggio melanconico e solitario poco disponibile verso gli altri, osserva e sopravvive: si trova in letargo. Un uomo privo di parole, capace di ascoltare e rendere muta ogni impressione. Unico obiettivo togliersi l’angoscia dal cuore. Della sua famiglia dapprima ne prova pietà poi disagio, estraneità, indifferenza e repulsione.

[June Baer · Rating 1 out of 5]

Perhaps I'm too ignorant for such a great piece of literature, but I found this quite boring and dull. Underwhelming, to say the least. With a premise that spoke of WWII aftereffects on a lonely man, I expected more oomph. I know there was certainly no shortage of traumatized victims from the war. But he just walked around town at 4 a.m., drinking coffee, smoking cigarettes, and hating his wife. That was this whole book.

[Elvio Mac · Rating 2 out of 5]

Questa storia può essere una chiave di lettura per riflettere su ciò che subentra a livello mentale in una persona che scampata a pericoli indicibili, non riesce ad accettare la realtà che sembra più opprimente di una prigionia. Un superstite della Shoah dovrebbe andare incontro a una vita serena nelle sua terra. Israele lo riaccoglie dopo la guerra, ma lui si sente tormentato e devastato dal ricordo eppure lo vorrebbe quasi ritoccare con mano.
Bartfuss si barcamena tra la solitudine che esige e la voglia di gridare il suo dolore che forse la condivisione renderebbe meno reale. Questa doppia identita è il suo modo per smarrirsi nella vita, in un mondo che è diventato un non luogo. Non si può comprendere chi ha dovuto affrontare la morte più volte ed ha così elaborato l’incomprensibilità della vita perchè ormai non crede più nell’umanità. Bartfuss in ebraico significa "figlio della non morte".
Il nucleo famigliare raccontato è tormento e distacco. Non ci sono descrizioni fisiche delle persone che fanno parte della famiglia, per la scarsissima considerazione che Bartfuss prova nei loro confronti, solo Brigitte, la figlia minore che ha dei problemi, gode di qualche attenzione.
Lo scontro tra la voglia di restare solo e il bisogno di comunicare è evidente, non si capisce da cosa sia regolato l'umore di Bartfuss che passa dalla socievolezza all'auto emarginazione. Svela poco di se e quel poco riguarda sempre il passato che a volte sembra nostalgico altre volte finalmente distaccato.
Ci sono romanzi che iniziano fragorosi, altri con un crescendo, altri ancora che dicono pochissimo ed è il caso di questa storia dove il protagonista non vuole parlare perchè le parole non servono più, le ha già usate tutte quando gli servivano per farsi forza ed ora non hanno più la capacità di dare forma e significato alle cose.
L'orrore vissuto non si può descrivere e dopo che ha perso la presenza, lascia la disintegrazione dell’individuo con un vuoto incolmabile. La vita quotidiana è un battito rallentato rispetto alla tensione vissuta per sopravvivere. In tempo di guerra non era la voce a parlare, ma i volti, le mani. Dal viso si poteva comprendere se l’uomo che ti stava vicino era disposto ad aiutarti o se stava macchinando contro di te, per questo le parole non aiutavano a capire.
I rapporti famigliari sono così esigui che "Lui" è il nome che moglie e figlie riservano a Bartfuss. Egli non ha mai rivelato alla moglie Rosa i segreti dei suoi traffici, quando scortava clandestini, commerciava beni e si nascondeva. Molti anni prima per tranquillizzarla, le aveva fatto capire che non erano poveri, ma non aveva mai parlato di somme precise. Oggi sembra che il motivo di tensione sia proprio il denaro che lui non ha mai nascosto di avere, ma che ha nascosto a tutti perchè «Non ci si può fidare nemmeno di se stessi.».
Ogni incontro di Bartfuss, che sia a Giaffa, Tel Aviv o Netanya, è regolato dal fastidio o dalla disponibilità non ricambiata. Infatti, data la sua fama, molti lo riconoscono e vorrebbero parlargli. Proprio in queste occasioni lui evita il contatto e il dialogo perchè il riconoscimento implica il ricordo. Quando invece è lui a voler parlare o passare del tempo con qualcuno, viene sempre respinto. Della deportazione e dei campi di concentramento non viene fatta parola, eppure sono li, si sentono in ogni pagina Il finale, nonostante tutto, lascia una sensazione di speranza.

[André · Rating 4 out of 5]

Citaat : Uitgehongerd en opgepropt in goederenwagons hadden de mensen geleerd elkaar te negeren, te stelen en voor te dringen met het beetje kracht dat ze nog hadden, ze waren als beesten voor elkaar geworden. Gevoelens waren geleidelijk afgestompt.
Review : De veelbekroonde Israëlische schrijver Aharon Appelfeld (1932), is geboren in een gehucht in de Oekraïne. In 1939 werd zijn moeder vermoord en hijzelf samen met zijn vader op transport gezet. Na een jaar wist hij te ontsnappen uit een concentratiekamp en in zijn eentje in de oerbossen de oorlog te overleven. Hij werd keukenhulp bij het Russische leger en kwam na de bevrijding uiteindelijk via één van de opvangkampen in Italië als veertienjarige in Palestina terecht. Daar leerde hij Hebreeuws omdat hij vond dat zijn moedertaal (Duits) niet geschikt was om de Holocaust te beschrijven.



De hoofdpersoon in de roman De onsterfelijke Bartfuss, de vijfenveertigjarige handelaar Bartfuss probeert zijn bestaan na het overleven van een van de kleinere, beruchte kampen voort te zetten door te zwijgen en zich van zijn vrouw, Rosa en zijn twee dochters af te schermen. Bartfuss heeft zijn bed, zijn kamer en zijn spaarcent, volgens zijn vrouw en dochter Paula, onmeetbaar grote geheime schat. Inderdaad heeft hij onder de tegels in de kelder dollars, gouden muntstukken en sieraden verborgen, allemaal bij elkaar gesjacherd, maar hij laat zijn vrouw en dochters die door hun moeder tegen hem opgezet zijn, niet in zijn rijkdom delen. Bartfuss heeft zijn eigen dagritme, hij komt en gaat naar believen. Het gemeenschappelijke huis komt hem voor als een vijandelijke zone waar je niet te veel van jezelf moet prijsgeven’. Hij zit letterlijk alleen met zichzelf urenlang in een koffiebar terwijl hij elke beslissing uit de weg gaat. De scheve verhouding in huize Bartfuss, het gekonkel van de drie vrouwen, een schoonzoon die een nieuwe tactiek voorstelt, de toenaderingspoging van Bartfuss zelf als hij ondanks alles in een bui is waarin hij bijna zijn ergste vijand vergeeft zijn fragmenten uit het levensverhaal van een man die het kamp wel overleefde maar er gevoelsmatig wel levenslang verminkt werd. Bartfuss is een kluizenaar tegen wil en dank en de auteur geeft de stilte én de pijn op een meesterlijke manier gestalte.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Holocaust survivor. Can’t be many left. After all it’s been over seventy years since the end of World War II. Soon all we will have will be books like this. Google the phrase "didn't talk about the war" and you’ll find loads of instances where people who’ve returned from fighting for what they believed (or were told) was right and you’ll find that few were in a rush to discuss their experiences with those they were fighting to protect or even, when they run into them, their fellow combatants; the latter especially know no words are necessary. I’ve never knowingly met a survivor of the German camps. I did know a man who’d survived a Japanese POW camp but I only learned about that through my dad; the man himself refused to be drawn on the subject.

Bartfuss is a survivor. In the broadest of senses. He is a Jew but not especially Jewish, at least not in a religious sense. God is mentioned in passing but without reverence. It seems all Bartfuss wants to be is left alone. His wife, Rosa, who he married in Italy whilst waiting on transport to Israel, he barely talks to; the same goes for his two daughters, the married Paula and the autistic Bridget.

Adorno has been famously misquoted as saying there could be “no poetry after Auschwitz”—what he actually said was “To write poetry after Auschwitz is barbaric”—but he later qualified this remark in a 1949 essay:

Perennial suffering has as much right to expression as a tortured man has to scream; hence it may have been wrong to say that after Auschwitz you could no longer write poems. But it is not wrong to raise the less cultural question whether after Auschwitz you can go on living—especially whether one who escaped by accident, one who by rights should have been killed, may go on living. His mere survival calls for the coldness, the basic principle of bourgeois subjectivity, without which there could have been no Auschwitz; this is the drastic guilt put on him who was spared.

What Appelfeld does in this book is address what it means to “go on living” after having survived such an ordeal. Bartfuss was not in Auschwitz—he was in one of the smaller camps but we never learn which one—and he is not immortal; it is a sobriquet adopted by others and intended as a compliment. He works as a trader but the specifics of his trade are not expounded upon; what we do know is he was a smuggler and a racketeer in Italy and it’s likely that his current business practices are still a little shady. Suffice to say he’s not short of a bob or two—he even has “three gold bars, five thousand dollars, two necklaces, a few gold watches” hidden away for a rainy day—and provides adequately for his family, more than adequately in fact, but knowing his wife for the spendthrift she’s become only a fool would divulge his stash’s location. His family look, frequently, but never come close to finding his fortune. Why he’s stayed with Rosa beggars belief. Not that he’s stayed faithful to her—he often has dalliances with other women although nothing serious—but he does always find his way home at night even if it is to a Beckettian bedroom he no longer shares with his wife. Appelfeld told Philip Roth in an interview at the time The Immortal Bartfuss was published:

My book offers its survivor neither Zionist nor religious consolation. The survivor, Bartfuss, has swallowed the Holocaust whole, and he walks about with it in all his limbs. He drinks the "black milk" of the poet Paul Celan, morning, noon and night. He has no advantage over anyone else, but he still hasn't lost his human face. That isn't a great deal, but it's something.

There are numerous conversations and exchanges throughout the book—as laconic as Bartfuss is he doesn’t struggle to talk when he has to—but most consist of irrelevancies or never quite find the right gear and peter out. He makes some small progress with his youngest daughter but the only thing that keeps his wife happy is money and so he starts giving her more when she asks for more. She’s perplexed and suspicious:

There was no need for demands and shouts. He would give. If asked to add, he would add. That change perplexed Rosa. What had happened to him?

One might think this was guilt at play here but it’s not a word that appears anywhere in the text. Not guilt for being an adulterer or guilt for surviving the camp. Nor does he have an epiphany—his life is as meaningless at the end of the book as it is when we first encounter him (he’s still smoking like a chimney, drinking endless cups of coffee and wandering all over Jaffa)—but he does seem to relax a little at the end. His salvation comes in the form of Bridget, suddenly matured and not quite as in thrall to her mother as she once had been. Their encounters are awkward and even embarrassing but if he has any hope of… let’s just stick with salvation… it probably lies with her. He’s only fifty; he has time to be mortal.

As with his other works there’s a lot missing here and I never came away from the text feeling like I understood Bartfuss or what drove and sustained him. Or what changed. Or if that change will be enough. Knowing what a man went through and understanding it are two very different things. In that respect this is poetry; it suggests and outlines rather than struggling to find words that clearly aren’t there. This is my third book by Appelfeld—I read Blooms of Darkness first followed by Tzili: The Story of a Life—and by far my favourite to date even if I have given them all four stars; this one I’d read again.

[Gopal Sadagopal · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was drawn to the writing style; short, simple and direct. But the main characters are totally devoid of emotions, meaning and logic. The protagonist's behavior is very inconsistent unexplainably.

If this book was written by lesser known author, it would have been considered very poor and appropriately ignored.

[Ο σιδεράς · Rating 4 out of 5]

Παράφραση του (αυτού για την εξουσία) αποφθέγματος :
Η Ιστορία βαραίνει, και η απόλυτη Ιστορία βαραίνει απόλυτα.. οι σκιές των απόντων βαραίνουν περισσότερο από την ιστορία και "..η σιωπηλή δίνη των ψιθύρων,
που ασθμαίνει μανιασμένη για βοήθεια γι΄ αγάπη.."
βαραίνει περισσότερο από τις σκιές - τράβα ρώτησε τον W. G. Sebald..
Ίσως δε αυτή να βαραίνει περισσότερο, κι από τη σύντομη παρουσία μας πα' στη σκηνή (η οποια εκεί θα καταλήξει - στη χορεια των ψιθυρων)..
Πολύ βαρύτητα για ένα τέτοιο ηλιόλουστο πρωινό, όμως για να πω την αλήθεια κι ο ίδιος, ένα ποναλάκι στην πλάτη μου το νοιώθω, όλο και πιο έντονα όσο μεγαλώνω .. Η αλλαγή του καιρού πάνω στο τραύμα είναι, σιδερά, στο τραύμα από την πτώση..

Ένα Παρίσι, Τέξας στην Ιερουσαλήμ (ή μήπως στη Χάιφα - ή στη Δραπετσώνα, ή..;), με τις σκιές και τους ψιθύρους να φωτίζουν τον σκοτεινιασμένο δρόμο του Μπάρτφους προς ένα, οποιοδήποτε ξέφωτο..
ΥΓ
Τα σε εισαγωγικά είναι του Σαμ Μπέκεττ από το "Ποιήματα συνοδευόμενα από σαχλοκουβέντες"

[Koen Verbeken · Rating 3 out of 5]

read in dutch translation. weird, not really my cup of tea.

[Stephen Rowland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really unique and oddly compelling, with a tension created of virtually nothing.

[Gian Paolo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Prospettiva nuova della shoa: il dopo, la normalità, il passato che non passa, la solitudine

[Jonathan Gruber · Rating 1 out of 5]

too minimalist for my tastes

[Robert James Cross · Rating 4 out of 5]

Depressing. Bartfuss is an antihero for antiheroes.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Holocaust survivor from an unexpected angle .

[Joop · Rating 2 out of 5]

Vanaf het begin geen idee waar het verhaal naar toe gaat. Een wat onbevredigend eind.

[Francesco · Rating 4 out of 5]

one of the reasons reading this kind of literature is so important: it more than complements historical accounts; who can ever imagine how survivors can and do cope in the everyday struggles for the long term, and how they change during their lives, if not by stories of witnesses with an intimate personal knowledge of these persons ? Appelfeld could write these narratives, which amount to trusted accounts, from his own life experiences and memories, not only by looking inwardly at his only life but also through his interaction with other survivors in the Israeli society of his days; his is a unique genre, and this story unlocks the perceived reticence and 'block' of those who could not bring out to others and life stories, at least not for many years, whilst maturing in the thought that it would be a necessary duty expected of them.

[Jon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brought about in me the same strange sensation as Appelfeld's For Every Sin: bored and confused early in the book, then my interest blossoms and the book abruptly ends.

[Darcy Letourneau · Rating 2 out of 5]

started out quite interesting, by midway thru I was wondering where it was going, thankfully it is a short book so didn't take long to finish. The ending left me wondering "huh?"

[Ned Randolph · Rating 4 out of 5]

better than good, chilling and withholding.

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just started reading this story about a Holocaust survivor. Well written. A little sad so far.