Synopses & Reviews
An eloquent revelation that touches the foundations of what man is. Neither despairing nor conventionally hopeful, The Survivor describes the most terrible events in human memory. But what emerges finally is an image of man stubbornly equal to the worst that can happen.
Review
"The topic is 'the capacity of men and women to live beneath the pressure of protracted crisis, [and] sustain terrible damage in mind and body.' Rejecting many of the analyses of death camp survival published since the end of World War II, the author opts for a sociobiological interpretation. He examines a large number of first-hand accounts of existence in the German and Russian camps and writes that survival was a structured phenomenon, 'neither random ...nor immoral,' revealing 'a fixed system of...biological... [activity] specific to humanness as such.' On the basis of the evidence presented, the reader is likely to remain unconvinced." Reviewed by Daniel Weiss, Virginia Quarterly Review (Copyright 2006 Virginia Quarterly Review)
Review
"Remains a perfect analytic supplement for students reading (as mine do) the memoir literature (Wiesel, Levi, Tec, etc.) in courses on the Holocaust and its impact on survivors and, through them, on western imagination."--A.J. Slavin, University of Louisville
"Powerful book! An intriguing look into the inner workings of the death camps. A must reading for anyone who wants to know just how inhumanly the Naqzis treated their victims."-- Prof. Marvin Seperson, New England College
"[A] very fine book."--Saul Lerner, Purdue University Calumet
"A brilliant and beautifully written book about one of the ultimate human experiences."--E.O. Wilson, Harvard University
"An important, tormented, tormenting book."--Elie Wiesel, Boston University
About the Author
The late
Terrence Des Pres was Crawshaw Professor of English Literature at Colgate University