Kaddish for a Child Not Born [Hardcover]

Imre Kertesz (Author), Katharina M. Wilson (Translator), Christopher C. Wilson (Translator)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Like its author, Hungarian novelist Kertesz (Fateless, LJ 10/15/92), the narrator in this disturbing yet lyrical novel is a writer/translator and Holocaust survivor. Middle-aged and out of harmony with everyone, including himself, he makes a final effort to explain his disconnectedness to life and his refusal to bring a child into a world where horrors like the Holocaust can occur. He recalls the pivotal events of his unhappy past in a seamless burst of introspection that is painful in its intensity and despair. For him, life is nothing more than the process of digging his own grave, using his writing tools to draw closer to death. The work is well titled, for the narrator truly mourns his unborn child(ren), and there is in his powerlessness a faint reflection of the acceptance of divine will appropriate for a mourner's kaddish. But he is a man without religious faith, numbed by the blows of fate, and his lament is not a doxology but a confession and a cry for death. Kertesz has re-created a memorable, frail life in a slender work that is occasionally rambling but always compelling in its exploration of identity and the will to survive. Recommended for all collections of contemporary literature.?Sister M. Anna Falbo, Villa Maria Coll. Lib., Buffalo, N.Y.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Kertesz, a Hungarian Jew, was imprisoned in Auschwitz during his youth. His novel Fateless was translated into English in 1992 and told the story of a Jewish boy's experiences in the concentration camps and his attempts to reconcile himself to those experiences after World War II. Kaddish was originally published in Hungarian in 1990 and in German in 1992. The narrator of Kaddish is a middle-aged survivor of the Holocaust who has become a writer and literary translator. At a writer's retreat he explains to his friend, a professor of philosophy, why he can't bring a child into the world after the horror of the Holocaust. He talks of his failed marriage, of his former wife's new family and children, of his unsuccessful career, and of his Jewishness. Like the previous novel, Kaddish is brilliantly written, revealing anew the ferocious hold the Holocaust has on its survivors. George Cohen

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 95 pages
• Publisher: Hydra Books (May 20, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810111764
• ISBN-13: 978-0810111769
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,113,739 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

IMRE KERTÉSZ was born in Budapest in 1929. At age fifteen he was deported to Auschwitz, then Buchenwald, and finally to a subcamp at Zeitz, to labor in a factory where Nazi scientists were trying to convert coal into motor fuel. Upon liberation in 1945 he worked as a journalist before being fired for not adhering to the Communist party doctrine. After a brief service in the Hungarian Army, he devoted himself to writing, although as a dissident he was forced to live under Spartan circumstances. Nonetheless he stayed in Hungary after the failed 1956 uprising, continuing to write plays and fiction in near-anonymity and supporting himself by translating from the German writers such as Joseph Roth, Freud, Nietzsche, and Wittgenstein. He remained little-known until 1975, when he published his first book, Fatelesseness, a novel about a teenage boy sent to a concentration camp. It became the first book of a trilogy that eventually included The Failure and Kaddish for an Unborn Child. Subsequent titles include Liquidation, The Pathseeker, Union Jack, and, a memoir, The File on K. In 2002, Kertész was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. He lives in Budapest and Berlin.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, just don't read the English version yet, October 16, 2002

By 

Marton T Sass (Budapest, Hungary) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kaddish for a Child Not Born (Hardcover)

Due to my close personal ties to the author, I am unable to provide an objective review of this book. However, readers should be warned that the English translation of Kertesz's book does not live up to the standards worthy of a Nobel Prize (as evidenced by the review listed below!) The poor translation is one of the reasons why Kertesz has remained obscure in the world of English literature. Anyone truly interested should refer to the original language (Hungarian), or to the German version (Kertesz is fluent in German and was able to proofread the translation). The Swedish version was translated by a close friend and is also true to the original text (if I am correct, this is the version reviewed by the Nobel committee). For those locked into English, do not despair: a new translation will be released hopefully within the next year.

37 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent/Left with many questions, August 3, 1998

By 

Jeffrey Hay - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kaddish for a Child Not Born (Hardcover)

I read "Kaddish" today, and I am left with many questions. I rated it five stars not due to comprehension, but the fact that I was intrigued and sensed the depth of the book without being able to explore as much as I would like. I had read excerpts in "The New Hungarian Quarterly" in the early 90's (probably 1993) and was taken enough to recognize the title in the book store (the K section usually holds many Hungarian authors.) The book is written as a stream of consciousness monologue that repeats/re-explores various themes. Stories, events are hinted at early on and revisited throughout, though perhaps not related in full until late in the novel. This requires patience, as many times I felt like I had missed something, but in reality had only been offered a partial telling. Also, much of the monologue is philosophical and the mere syntax required several readings to understand. These may sound like criticisms, but they are not. The voice is! consistent and intriguing; I wanted to know where each thought/recollection was leading, and I was fascinated even when I didn't understand. I don't want to relate specifics of the book-- they would only be superficial as the structure of the novel is complicated. I am very interested in hearing from others who have read "Kaddish for a Child Not Born." If you have read it and feel motivated to type, please contact me.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Kaddish for humankind, December 10, 2002

By 

Esther Nebenzahl - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kaddish for a Child Not Born (Paperback)

A poignant, dramatic stream of self-counsciousness narrative of a middle age man, who in view of his Spartan upbringing and experience as a concentration camp survivor refuses to beget a child in a world where atrocities such as Auschwitz can take place. Although claimed by the author not to be autobiographical, there are instances where it becomes impossible to draw the line between fiction and reality. His Kaddish (Jewish prayer for the dead)is being said not only in the name of his unborn child but also as a prayer for all of those who were not able to survive.
The nameless character feels disconnected to reality, life, and everyone, his obsessive writing is his only tool to deal with his bitterness, and in a compulsive burst of introspection he develops a monologue rich in philosophical and political connotations. Auschwitz for him is not a problem between the Jews and the Germans, but a catastrophe in European history, the ultimate truth in human degradation. In the true spirit of Kaddish, he accepts his fate and divine will as as man who cannnot decide against his destiny.

The Rebbe would say: "God creates things he does not desire,
things about which we scream, some-
times in horror, sometimes in
indignant outrage, Why did you do
this? How could you? and all we
receive is a silent tear from heaven,
yet even the things He does not desire
they do have a purpose."

The narrator struggles to accept the consequences of his Jewish identity, as an individual being punished for a crime he did not commit. He is conscious of the prejudice that existed, exists, and will forever exist against the Jews, and the fear of genocide is ever present. Life is an illusion in which we are not able to become conscious of our own consciousness, probably because our individual consciousness belongs to a whole (maybe God).
Because the narrator is victim of a disease called Auschwitz (for which there is no cure), he is not able to cut himself from the past; consequently, he feels he is unable to be happy or make anyone happy, his marriage ends in failure, and he is destined to dig his grave with a pen. His creative power feeds itself through solitude, suffering and pain. The result is a slim book with an enormous intensity of despair, and a syntax that represents a reading challenge. By all means... a work of art!