A Modernist in Exile
The International Reception of H. G. Adler (1910-1988)

Edited by Lynn L. Wolff

Studies In Comparative Literature 42

Legenda

23 April 2019  •  278pp

ISBN: 978-1-781888-71-1 (hardback)  •  RRP £80, $110, €95

ISBN: 978-1-781888-72-8 (paperback, 13 December 2021)  •  RRP £13.49, $17.99, €16.49

ISBN: 978-1-781888-73-5 (JSTOR ebook)

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H. G. Adler (Prague, 1910–London, 1988), a survivor of Theresienstadt, Auschwitz, and two other Nazi concentration camps, is unique for his scholarly and creative approach to the traumas of the Second World War. While Adler became a pioneer in the now well-established field of Holocaust studies, he was nearly forgotten as a prolific author of poetry and prose. The tables have turned in recent years. English translations of his major fictional works have led to an international literary reception. At the same time, his groundbreaking historical work deserves renewed attention.

This edited volume elucidates Adler's complex reception history and is the first comprehensive interdisciplinary publication that responds to his new international acclaim. In addition to offering innovative perspectives on Adler's individual works, the major intervention of the volume is the examination and contextualization of Adler's significant contributions to literary modernism and scholarly investigations of persecution and genocide under National Socialism.

Lynn L. Wolff is Associate Professor of German Studies and Affiliate Faculty of the Serling Institute for Jewish Studies and Modern Israel at Michigan State University.

Reviews:

  • ‘A very impressive collection of moving and thought-provoking essays... Because the contributors to this book have such detailed and specialized knowledge of H. G.’s life and work, and such a masterly ability to contextualize his wide-ranging achievement and relate their new work to earlier critical work, they set a new standard in Adler scholarship. Consequently this fascinating volume will doubtless enhance H. G.’s reputation both as an intellectual and as a writer of prose fiction, and become necessary reading for anyone who has any kind of interest in him and his work.’ — Richard Sheppard, Journal of European Studies 50.3, Autumn 2020, 295–301 (full text online)
  • ‘This volume dedicated to H.G. Adler will prove edifying to seasoned scholars and newcomers alike... In contrast to Adorno, who - similar to many postmodernists - collapses traditions of value into barbarity and admits no distinction between the two, Adler struggles to maintain, describe, and explain the possibility of human goodness in the face of overwhelming evil. It is certainly true for Adler that in the world of the camps much, if not most, of the ability for ethical action was destroyed - but not all. And since this is true, Adler’s work challenges his readers to face the truth in its entirety and to define the scale of human value they will adhere to in the face of barbarity.’ — Traci S. O’Brien, Monatshefte 112.4, Winter 2020, 747-50

Contents:

ix-xii

Notes On the Contributors
Lynn Wolff
doi:10.2307/j.ctv16km16j.3

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xiii-xiii

Acknowledgements
L. L. W.
doi:10.2307/j.ctv16km16j.4

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xiv-xxii

Foreword
Jeremy Adler
doi:10.2307/j.ctv16km16j.5

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3-21

Chapter 1 Framing H. G. Adler: A Survivor, Scholar, and Author in the Wake of the Shoah
Lynn Wolff
doi:10.2307/j.ctv16km16j.6

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22-24

Chapter 2 H. G. Adler’s Shoah Trilogy
Christopher R. Browning
doi:10.2307/j.ctv16km16j.7

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25-32

Chapter 3 Two Memoirs of the Camps: Primo Levi and H. G. Adler
Peter Pulzer
doi:10.2307/j.ctv16km16j.8

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35-47

Chapter 4 H. G. Adler’s England: Eindrücke Eines Ahnungslosen in the Context of Exile Writing
Anthony Grenville
doi:10.2307/j.ctv16km16j.9

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48-61

Chapter 5 the Displaced Modernist
Peter Filkins
doi:10.2307/j.ctv16km16j.10

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62-78

Chapter 6 H. G. Adler’s ‘Grenzgängertum’: Trans-Border Travel Between Enlightenment Epistemology and Modernist Representation
Kirstin Gwyer
doi:10.2307/j.ctv16km16j.11

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81-99

Chapter 7 Poetry in Exile — H. G. Adler’s Dialogue With Past and Present
Katrin Kohl
doi:10.2307/j.ctv16km16j.12

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100-110

Chapter 8 Irony and Black Humour in H. G. Adler’s Holocaust Fiction Eine Reise
John White
doi:10.2307/j.ctv16km16j.13

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111-117

Chapter 9 H. G. Adler’s Panorama and the Bildungsroman Tradition
Martin Swales
doi:10.2307/j.ctv16km16j.14

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118-132

Chapter 10 ‘To Be Human Is To Have A Border, and To Want To Cross It Through Letters’: Letters and Letter Writers in H. G. Adler’s Novel the Wall
Julia Menzel
doi:10.2307/j.ctv16km16j.15

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135-152

Chapter 11 ‘Order in Disorder’: Understanding Nazi Law With H. G. Adler
Olivier Jouanjan
doi:10.2307/j.ctv16km16j.16

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153-168

Chapter 12 A Mystic Among the Intellectuals: H. G. Adler in Debate With Jean Améry and Hannah Arendt
Jeremy Adler
doi:10.2307/j.ctv16km16j.17

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169-186

Chapter 13 the Jews in Germany: H. G. Adler As A Public Historian
Michael Schaich
doi:10.2307/j.ctv16km16j.18

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187-199

Chapter 14 the Reception of H. G. Adler’s Eine Reise in the Federal Republic of Germany
Ruth Vogel-Klein
doi:10.2307/j.ctv16km16j.19

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200-215

Chapter 15 H. G. Adler As Modernist Historiographer in North America
Julia Creet
doi:10.2307/j.ctv16km16j.20

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216-225

H. G. Adler: A Chronology
Lynn Wolff
doi:10.2307/j.ctv16km16j.21

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226-242

Bibliography
Lynn Wolff
doi:10.2307/j.ctv16km16j.22

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243-247

Index of Names
Lynn Wolff
doi:10.2307/j.ctv16km16j.23

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248-256

Index of Subjects
Lynn Wolff
doi:10.2307/j.ctv16km16j.24

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Bibliography entry:

Wolff, Lynn L. (ed.), A Modernist in Exile: The International Reception of H. G. Adler (1910-1988), Studies In Comparative Literature, 42 (Legenda, 2019)

First footnote reference: 35 A Modernist in Exile: The International Reception of H. G. Adler (1910-1988), ed. by Lynn L. Wolff, Studies In Comparative Literature, 42 (Legenda, 2019), p. 21.

Subsequent footnote reference: 37 Wolff, p. 47.

(To see how these citations were worked out, follow this link.)

Bibliography entry:

Wolff, Lynn L. (ed.). 2019. A Modernist in Exile: The International Reception of H. G. Adler (1910-1988), Studies In Comparative Literature, 42 (Legenda)

Example citation: ‘A quotation occurring on page 21 of this work’ (Wolff 2019: 21).

Example footnote reference: 35 Wolff 2019: 21.

(To see how these citations were worked out, follow this link.)


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