Langages du désastre: Robert Antelme, Anna Langfus, André Schwarz-Bart, Jorge Semprun, Elie Wiesel by Joë Friedemann

Abstract

578 Reviews graphy to 'musealiser (p. 256) and that of novels both to reflect ambient attitudes and to refer intertextually to previous writings are sharply juxtaposed and shown to interactwith each other, though again in a largely one-way process from the former to the latter.This is a significant contribution to reflections on the nature and development of Te roman colonial'. Trinity College Dublin Roger Little Langages du desastre: Robert Antelme, Anna Langfus, Andre Schwarz-Bart, Jorge Semprun, Elie Wiesel. By Joe Friedemann. Saint-Genouph: Nizet. 2007. 174 pp. 18. ISBN 978-2-7078-1296-4. In the context of the disappearance of historical witnesses which has resulted in a prevalent focus on the concept of postmemory> in representations of the Second World War and theHolocaust by second or third generations, Joe Friedemann's careful study of literarytestimony by fivesurvivors of concentration and extermina tion camps and political prisons returns the critical spotlight to the first-generation ecrivains-temoins'. The aim outlined in thework's brief introduction is to cerner [...] les contours d'un langage, d'une expressivite constituant chez leurs auteurs une tentative [. . .]de depasser les frontieres de rincommunicable' (p. 10). Adopting a thematic rather than a chronological approach, Friedemann offersan exploration of the senses understood ina broad sense, 'une recherche de la comprehension des etats de conscience du rescape' (p. 11), analysing questions of language and representa tions of the gaze, laughter, silence, and hatred in order to 'sonder [...] lamosaique complexe des comportements du survivant' (p. 11) in thepost-camp world. The firstchapter examines the state entre le desastre et Tecriture' (p. 13) and points to salient issues of language, fiction,and truth in relation toHolocaust litera ture. Friedemann considers debates on why and how survivors should bear witness, both in the immediate post-war period (Robert Antelme) and in the laterworks of authors such as JorgeSemprun who continually strugglewith the questions of testimony and writing. The second chapter offers an effective analysis of the lin guistic codes of both victims and perpetrators and representations of the camps inAntelme's VEspece humaine. Friedemann has previously published a study of Le Rire dans Vunivers tragique d'Elie Wiesel (Paris: Nizet, 1981), and this extensive knowledge ofWiesel's oeuvre is evident in his edifying observations on the Jewish specificity ofWiesel's portrayal of the gaze, which is analysed in relation to ex istentialism in the third chapter. The fourth chapter is particularly incisive in its investigation of the use of laughter inAndre Schwarz-Bart's Le Dernier des justes, reaching theunexpected conclusion that reactions to theHolocaust take place at the level of Te rire* (p. 85). The fifthand longest chapter isdevoted to an insightful and original analysis of constructions of silence (rather than the unsayable) in the three novels published by Polish-born author Anna Langfus. The final chapter returns to an analysis of representations of hatred in Wiesel's works, contending thathatred is an absent phenomenon inhis Holocaust writings. Friedemann's detailed and sensitive textual readings, conveyed in a vivid and MLR, 104.2, 2009 579 poetical style,work well as individual studies. However, wider questions have been eschewed by the author. For example, what are the implications of the authors' thematic focus on the gaze or laughter for the representation of the Holocaust? Naturally, the choice of authors for such a study can always be debated, but Friede mann's rather canonical selection is not problematized at all, nor does he engage with the choice by three of the authors towrite about the univers concentrationnaire using the (non-native) French language. In spite of theoverlapping themes of several of the authors (for example, there are also references to the gaze and laughter in the discussion ofAntelme's VEspece humaine), comparisons between them remain solely implicit. The absence of a concluding chapter leads to the thematic strands of the individual chapters remaining untied, and the lack of an overarching argument means that thework would be best appreciated as a collection of instructive but separate articles. However, Langages du desastre offers an insightful approach to survivor literature, and will certainly appeal to readers with a particular interest in Antelme, Langfus, Schwarz-Bart, Semprun, andWiesel. Swansea University Kathryn N. Jones...