Language:
English
Year of publication:
1990
Titel der Quelle:
Studies in American Jewish Literature
Angaben zur Quelle:
9,2 (1990) 228-241
Keywords:
Klein, A. M.
;
Hitler, Adolf,
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945), in literature
Abstract:
Analyzes Klein's epic poem "The Hitleriad" (1943). Despite a predominantly negative critical response, contends that it is a visionary statement, raising issues that the world has just now begun to consider. Discusses the poet's use of satire to deny any greatness or mystical qualities to Hitler and Nazism. He depicts a procrastinating God, which foreshadowed the postwar dilemma of the silence or absence of God in the Holocaust. Describes Klein's use of poetry and allusion to expose the distortion and destructive nature of Hitler's rhetoric and abuse of language. Klein omits the story of the victim, indicating that postwar spiritual regeneration can take place only when the victim, "speaking the things unspeakable, " becomes part of the world's consciousness.
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