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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Thought-provoking, December 31, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: The Portage to San Cristobal of A. H.: A Novel (Phoenix Fiction) (Paperback)
To say that Steiner's work is controversial would be an understatement, and the controversy is probably well-deserved. This book is an expanded version of what first appeared in the KENYONG REVIEW, and it sometimes has a padded feel to it. The book is clearly at its strongest when following the Israeli team as it seeks to return the captured Adolf Hitler to San Cristobal, where he will be? This is part of the story--what would happen if Adolf Hitler was brought out of a South American jungle to a world that, for a variety of reasons that Steiner acutely outlines, would rather not be reminded of Hitler. There are several interludes where various intelligence services in several countries ponder this question, but I find these portions more of a drag on the story. Where Steiner is at his best is in first trying to provide a sense of the horror that Hitler represents. Then, in an ambiguous ending, he has Hitler explain himself. This, more than anything else, has been the source of a firestorm of criticism of Steiner. Critics say that by having Hitler at center stage in the last chaper, spouting his venomous justifications for his actions, suggests a sympathy for Hitler's thinking. These critics seem to ignore the exceptional passages Steiner has written about the impact of Hitler's horror on an individual like Lieber, who is the driving force behind the decades long search for Hitler. Some have even suggested that Steiner's words not only justify or mitigate Hitler, but place the blame for the Shoah on the Jews themselves. Nonsense. Steiner has bravely put forth for all to contemplate, how seductive evil can be to those predisposed to hate. More than that, he has set forth a story of pain, its continuing effect on people, and how we must learn to live with its memory. This is a brave and disturbing book; it will challenge any serious reader to work one's way through the unthinkable and unimaginable. There is no easy explanation for Hitler or the Shoah, and Steiner does not try to offer one. What he does offer is the freedom for the individual to think about issues that others would rather not have raised.
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Odd, Disturbing Book - Not For the Sentimental, March 10, 2000
This review is from: The Portage to San Cristobal of A. H.: A Novel (Phoenix Fiction) (Paperback)
There is nothing in recent literature quite like this little book. I have a feeling that it will take its place alongside "First and Last Men" and Voyage To Arcturus" as classic works which are little-read, yet never quite go out of print. This book is only accidently about Adolph Hitler. Its true theme is the power of language.
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22 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A provocative look at the legacy of A.H., November 4, 2000
This review is from: The Portage to San Cristobal of A. H.: A Novel (Phoenix Fiction) (Paperback)
At it most pedestrian moments, George Steiner's novel "The Portage to San Cristobal of A.H." is a "what if" story in which young Israeli Nazihunters find Hitler in the Amazonian jungle thirty years after the end of the Second World War. The genesis for the story comes from the historical disappearance of Hitler's body after his suicide as well as the apprehension, trial and execution of Adolf Eichmann. Now we know that Stalin had Hitler's remains brought to the Soviet Union to prove that the madman was indeed dead, but the idea of holding Hitler accountable for his sins is certainly compelling. While this book does not provide a formal trial, it does raise some fascinating questions. There are a pair of chapters in Steiner's book that stand out from the mere mechanics of capturing Hitler. In the first the question on the table is what would you do with Hitler once you had him in custody? Here is a man responsible for the deaths of millions, who remains in our minds the greatest mass murderer of the past century no matter what truths come to us about Stalih's purges. How do you extract judgment? Without access to the hellish inferno of Dante's imagination, what punishment could ever hope to provide closure? The fact that a satisfactory answer cannot be found does not detract from the merit of the line of inquiry. The second important chapter is the last, where Hitler is allowed to speak. The value of this chapter is that it gets beyond the memory of history to the heart of the evil. There is a fatal tendency in the modern world to equate Fascism with Hitler and the Nazis, which means anti-semitism and the Holocaust. The common folk on the street today would point to skinheads as being fascists. But Fascism is a dynamic built upon the Struggle for Order, a world in which the ends justify means that a democratic populace should scorn. Ultimately Steiner speaks to the ironic level on which Hitler achieved a victory of sorts, having cast the world in the image of his own ideology. Certainly the Cold War, which was still in bloom when Steiner wrote this book, is an example of the fascist ideology, where the demands of "national security" becomes a justification for blind obedience. Reading these two chapters is well worth reading the entire volume, which is but an evening's read. Certainly you can give over one evening of your life to consider the issues raised by "The Portage to San Cristobal of A.H." and come to terms with them on your own. Hitler has become a caricature and while it is difficult to see him for what he truly was, this book definitely looks in the right direction.
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