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Reviewed by:
  • Israeli Poetry of the Holocaust
  • Stephen Katz
Israeli Poetry of the Holocaust, by Yair Mazor. Madison, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2009. 229 pp. $49.50.

Yair Mazor, one of the more prolific scholars of Hebrew literature in America, presents us with insight into one of the more painful themes in the Hebrew literary canon: the Holocaust. In a series of fifteen informative chapters, at [End Page 188] times composed in a puzzling alliterative English, preceded by a substantial introduction on literary art and aesthetics, Mazor lays out his discussion of the poetry of eleven poets in a total of sixteen poems. In so doing, the author disproves his own assertion that "[t]he Holocaust is not a very common topic in contemporary Israeli poetry" (p. 31) as he foregrounds the persistence of this theme among many, if not all, established writers of prose and verse.

His samples are a source and resource for readers who seek a glimpse into the preoccupation with the Holocaust and its deep imprints on the popular, literary, and cultural psyche of Israelis to our times. His comments leave room (and call) for alternate readings and interpretations of the very selections he presented. Primarily, Mazor raises challenging issues for readers to consider regarding the weight of aesthetic values that may lie and be discerned in poems whose message has been considered of greater significance.

In the debate represented by the likes of T. Adorno, about writing aesthetically following the profound impact made by the Holocaust on art, Mazor takes the affirmative position. He draws reader attention to those very components, which he often terms the "aesthetic mechanism" of poetry, and accompanies these with his original insights and interpretations out of close readings of the poems. Though the task remains a challenging one—many writers, including the Hebrew novelist Aharon Appelfeld, have found ways of doing so—Mazor demonstrates a number of pathways to address the challenge. By accompanying his analyses with a full translation of each poem—incidentally, it is long overdue that publishers should make it a pro forma procedure to present the Hebrew originals for such selections—he leaves room for readers to add their interpretations, consider the nuances of translation, and join his camp of advocates for discerning the aesthetics of poetry.

A survey of Holocaust literature (with special emphasis on poetry) in Israel would have been a useful addition to inform the uninitiated, as would have been an explanation of the rationale behind his inclusion of some poets while excluding others. Most prominent among those left out are the works of U. Z. Greenberg and A. Gilboa, though one could go further. Also absent is an explanation of the rationale about the order of the discussion where the poems of individual poets, such as Yehuda Amichai and Roni Someck, are scattered among several chapters and are addressed without regard to previously made comments or a desire to observe common traits in the writings of each.

The notion of Israeli poems of the Holocaust also cries out for clarification. These are only Hebrew poems in the original, not poems composed in Israel in other languages. The issue of definition is more problematic: the poem "Don't Be Afraid, My Child," by David Fogel, for example, cannot be rightfully considered Israeli. It was composed in Europe before the establishment [End Page 189] of the state. Similarly, the notion of what constitutes a Holocaust poem is a slippery one in that some of the selections predate the outbreak of the Holocaust. The above-mentioned poem by Fogel is a good example, having been composed before the onset of the war (and the date of composition of each poem is sorely missed in all cases) and its message as well as tone may be merely another of his post-First World War poems expressing angst, "gloom and doom" (p. 59), or "a suggestion of deterioration and decay" (p. 62) so characteristic of his oeuvre.

The book is also in need of some serious editing and rechecking of facts. One can enumerate only a few examples, such as in the case of the latter, for example, the assertion that Gnessin wrote in the twenties...

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