Heidegger's Glasses, A Novel
by
Thaisa Frank
Kindle Edition, 320 pages
Published October 21st 2010 by Counterpoint
ASIN:B00486U37C
About the book:
(goodreads)
Heidegger’s Glasses opens during the end of World War II in a failing Germany coming apart at its seams. The Third Reich’s strong reliance on the occult and its obsession with the astral plane has led to the formation of an underground compound of scribes –translators responsible for answering letters written to those eventually killed in the concentration camps.
Into this covert compound comes a letter written by eminent philosopher Martin Heidegger to his optometrist, a man now lost in the dying thralls of Auschwitz. How will the scribes answer this letter? The presence of Heidegger’s words--one simple letter in a place filled with letters--sparks a series of events that will ultimately threaten the safety and well-being of the entire compound.
Part love story, part thriller, part meditation on how the dead are remembered and history is presented, with threads of Heidegger’s philosophy woven throughout, the novel evocatively illustrates the Holocaust through an almost dreamlike state. Thaisa Frank deftly reconstructs the landscape of Nazi Germany from an entirely original vantage point.
About the Author:
(goodreads)
As the granddaughter of a Presbyterian theologian and a Rumanian Chassid, Thaisa Frank grew up in the Bronx and in the Midwest, and her short stories draw on a bi-cultural childhood, mingling the sedate suburbs of Illinois with the colorful immigrant world of New York. Thaisa Frank has been Visiting Associate Professor of Creative Writing at the University of California at Berkeley and taught in numerous writing programs including the graduate department of San Francisco State and the University of San Francisco.
My thoughts:
Heideggers Glasses is a work of historical fiction. Ms. Frank concludes this work by stating,
"This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental."
It's a good thing she reminds the reader that the book is a work of fiction. Ms. Frank so carefully weaves historical facts with her fictional threads in the story that it is impossible to distinguish where fact ends and fiction begins. The story is very well written and highly imaginative.
It is not a light work, however. The historical base of the story comes from a program of the Reich entitled the Briefaktion, or Operation Mail. After completing the book I did some research on line and learned a few things. When the Jews were taken to Auschwitz--a killing center--the victims were required to write postcards or letters to home indicating that their resettlement was fine and they were in good health. All these cards had the same return address: Arbeitslager Birkenau, bei Neu-Berun, Oberschlesien. In contrast to prisoners in other camps, these new arrivals were not registered or given inmate numbers. Shortly after writing these postcards or letters, these individuals were killed.This mail was taken in bulk to Berlin for processing. Cachets were stamped on the correspondence indicating that replies were permitted only through the Association of Jews in Germany. Then, the correspondence was postmarked and mailed from several Berlin post offices.
You can view pictures of actual letters here.
Ms. Franks imagination begins from this point. She creates an underground world where scribes with various language skills are kept prisoner and forced to answer the letters to the dead. During the course of the work the reader becomes aquainted with each of the scribes, their personalities and histories. The reader becomes deeply involved with the community. Elie is the central part of this community, the only one allowed to leave. She brings the letters and supplies. Elie is also on a personal mission, a mission to rescue all she can that are hiding from the Reich. When the the letter from German philosopher Heidegger arrives to his friend Asher, Elie is determined to rescue Asher from Auschwitz. This is the main thread of the story--the effort to save Asher.
The story is heavy and sad, with brief moments of happiness overwhelmed with moments of horror. The ending is not satisfying but as in real life, dealing with hard things, endings are not always nice. The book requires the reader to invest themselves in the story, think and feel deeply. And to reflect on the course of history.
I do feel I need to mention that I was overwhelmed with the author's incessant use of the "F" word.
Book #7
Book #7
Book #2 downloaded from Amazon.com Dec. 30, 2010
Author #3
