Testimony and Taboo: The Perverse Writings of Ka-Tzetnik 135633

Abstract

Ka-Tzetnik was one of the most widely read writers of ‘Holocaust literature’ in Israel during the 1950s, but only recently have his works begun to receive much critical attention. His writings continue to raise crucial questions about testimony, about the representation of the Holocaust, and about truth. Do his works give us access to ‘devastating insights’ about the Holocaust, or do the violent, sexual and even pornographic descriptions with their mixture of fact and fiction instead lead us away from understanding the reality of what happened? Is Ka-Tzetnik a mere ‘chronicler’, as he described himself, or a writer whose literary techniques are central to the effects he achieves? In this essay, I explore how these and similar oppositions have framed previous discussions of his work, and attempt to offer some alternatives. I also analyze the ways in which Ka-Tzetnik's writing proceeds by the visualization of fear, and how he turns to conventional representations of evil to shield us from that which cannot really be borne witness to at all.