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Tzili: The Story of a Life

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"Tzili" is the third novel of Appelfeld. Born in Rumania, with 8 years of age he escaped the Nazi work camp and managed to survive on his own in the primitive wilds of Ukraine. At the age of 14 he reached Tel Aviv where he presently resides. His work echoes Kafka to the extent that it uses the language of the absurd. He considers himself a dislocated, deported, dispossessed, and uprooted writer.

"Tzili" is a powerful narrative of an experience which is too deep to be expressed, where characters are forced to participate in a historical event they are not able to understand. The war is the background of the story, but it remains an abstract for Tzili and the reader, history becomes a fairy tale. The author assumes that the reader knows the historical facts, and his purpose is to understand the victim.

Tzili is the name of the simplest child of a poor Jewish family, devoid of charm; she is an academic failure and a disgrace for the family. She remains passive, mute, despite constant punishment and ridicule, absorbing what little she is able to in her religious education. Abandoned when war breaks out, she has the wisdom to endure a world of cruelty and physical suffering. Having to face the horror she turns empty and emotionless. Tzilil finds a lover and father of her child in a refugee by the name of Mark, who is mentally disturbed, an eccentric character among many others.

But "Tzili" is not an autobriography, as Appelfeld himself said: "the reality of the Holocaust surpassed my imagination, if I remained true to the facts, no one would believe me!" He reinterprets his childhood memories and turns them into a fablelike, dreamlike, nightmarish narrative. It is certainly a tale that leaves its footprint on the mind of the reader.

This is a very moving work. Its heroine Tzila is a most sympathetic character. She is the youngest child in a poor Jewish family, and is repeatedly reprobated because she does not like her siblings do well at school. When the War threatens her family they escape leaving her behind to guard the house. Thus begin her adventures on her own, a Jewish child in a largely hostile surroundings. Her story in some way parallels that of Appelfeld himself who as an eight- year old child orphaned from his mother and separated from his father survived on his own.
Tzili 's first stop is in the home of a woman named Katerina. This woman an aging prostitute is alternately kind and cruel to Tzili. Tzili makes her way in Gentile surroundings by telling them that she is the child of a local prostitute who has had many illegitimate children. After Katerina becomes threatening Tzili escapes. Her next 'home' is that of two peasants . She is there severely beaten by the wife.
Tzili is simple, uncomplaining and basically innocent and good. She wins the reader's heart by her silence and courage.
Her next meeting is with a disturbed Jewish man who has escaped from a concentration camp. The story of Tzili's relation with him which leads to her knowing love for the first time, and becoming pregnant is at the heart of the book. Tzili in her relation with Mark is courageous and helpful. But in the end they are separated and she does not see him again.
Tzili goes on through more difficult circumstances. At the end of the book she is on her way to a new beginning in 'Palestina' .
In its quiet way this is a very powerful and convincing work.