{"id":1637,"date":"2004-10-25T12:41:16","date_gmt":"2004-10-25T12:41:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/?post_type=amn_mi-lite&p=1637"},"modified":"2019-09-26T09:20:58","modified_gmt":"2019-09-26T09:20:58","slug":"the-drowned-and-the-saved-br","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/2004\/10\/25\/the-drowned-and-the-saved-br\/","title":{"rendered":"The Drowned and the Saved (BR)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editorial notes<\/strong>:
\nThis is Shai\u2019s entry into the domain of digital publishing as he contributes an article in the\u00a0Gaia Online Writers Forum<\/a>. Shai was not only a prolific writer but also an avid reader and it is thus fitting that his first digital post is a book review, the first of\u00a068 book reviews<\/a>\u00a0written between October 2004 and March 2016 (only three of which were published in the Gaia Online Writers Forum).<\/em>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

I read The Drowned and the Saved<\/a><\/em>\u00a0 for a Primo Levi essay I completed last night. I read this book, along with\u00a0The Periodic Table<\/a><\/em> and\u00a0The Search for Roots<\/a><\/em>. Truth is, I didn’t really read ‘The Search for Roots’, just flipped through the bits I needed. It’s a strange book- it’s basically some recommended reading by Primo Levi, with introductions. I suppose what a person reads and thinks is important that others should read gives an insight into their character, and so I found it challenging trying to see what I could read into that particular work.<\/p>\n

The book is a collection of essays written by the author over a number of years. As is expected, the author takes a scientific approach as he tries to explain and make understood the Holocaust. His methodology is a significant factor in the book, as can be seen by the first chapter, in which he explains why memory cannot be trusted and that therefore he has tried not to make use of his own experiences in the Germans Lager unless he can verify them by other means.<\/p>\n

Levi’s perspective on the camps is brutally honest and disturbing. Of particular interest is his discussion on Grey Zones- morally ambiguous areas that seemed to cover most aspects of the camp. He discusses the behaviour towards newcomers to the camp, as well as that of the Kapos, and while explaining why they behave that way, he seeks to neither excuse them, nor label them guilty.<\/p>\n

Some other issues he deals with include the phenomenon of the survivors’ shame, and the reaction of Germans to his writings.<\/p>\n

A point I thought was interesting was that he said that although the survivors may offer perspective on the events of the Holocaust, they should never be considered to be the ideal or the best witnesses.<\/p>\n

\n
Quote:<\/div>\n
\n
\n

I must repeat- we the survivors, are not the true witnesses. This is an uncomfortable notion, of which I have become conscious little by little, reading memoirs of others and reading mine at a distance of years. We survivors are not only exiguous but also an anomalous minority: we are those who by their prevarications or abilities or good luck did not touch bottom. Those who did so, those who saw the Gorgon, have not returned to tell about it or have returned mute, but they are the… submerged, the complete witnesses…<\/em>\u00a0(p63-4)<\/i><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Comments:<\/b>\u00a0I found Levi’s approach very satisfying and honest. Reading his writing has contrasted well with the Elie Wiesel books that I’ve also been reading this year. Much more accessible than his ‘Periodic Table’ I felt.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Editorial notes: This is Shai\u2019s entry into the domain of digital publishing as he contributes an article in the\u00a0Gaia Online Writers Forum. Shai was not only a prolific writer but also an avid reader and it is thus fitting that his first digital post is a book review, the first of\u00a068 book reviews\u00a0written between October […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[159,198,205],"tags":[],"metadata":[101],"class_list":["post-1637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all-posts","category-book-review","category-gaia-online","metadata-editor_notes"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1645,"url":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/2005\/07\/06\/the-eyes-of-the-dragon-br-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":1637,"position":0},"title":"The Eyes of the Dragon (BR)","author":"meanwhile","date":"July 6, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"The Eyes of the Dragon\u00a0by Stephen King One of King's earlier novels, this story is more of a fantasy than the horror he is best known for. The book's setting is in the kingdom of Delain, where King Roland reigns. Quote: Roland the king was neither the best nor the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All Posts"","block_context":{"text":"All Posts","link":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/all-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1641,"url":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/2004\/11\/06\/the-exam-countdown-4-3-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":1637,"position":1},"title":"The Exam Countdown 4…3","author":"meanwhile","date":"November 6, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Math Methods Paper 1 (Exam 2\/5) The worst thing about maths is that they've got you sitting two exams for it. Which means, that after nearly two hours of tackling antidifferentiation and binomial probability questions (last Friday), I can't even enjoy the feeling of being over and done with the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All Posts"","block_context":{"text":"All Posts","link":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/all-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1644,"url":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/2005\/07\/06\/the-father-thing-br-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":1637,"position":2},"title":"The Father-Thing (BR)","author":"meanwhile","date":"July 6, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"The Father-Thing\u00a0by Philip K Dick This is the third out of five volumes of PKD's collected short stories. The 25 stories written in the period somewhat over a year before the author's first published novel. My favourite in the collection would have to be 'The Hanging Stranger', in which a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All Posts"","block_context":{"text":"All Posts","link":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/all-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":72,"url":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/2010\/01\/17\/power-hungry-tng\/","url_meta":{"origin":1637,"position":3},"title":"Power Hungry (TNG)","author":"pastfarpoint","date":"January 17, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Power Hungry by Howard Weinstein is the sixth numbered TNG novel. The plot involves the Enterprise being sent on a relief mission, bringing food and equipment, to a candidate Federation planet. The planet, Thiopia, has undergone until recently rapid development due to a trading agreement with Nuarans, which has resulted\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All Posts"","block_context":{"text":"All Posts","link":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/all-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Detail from \"Power Hungry\" cover","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/power_hungry_cropped.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1880,"url":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/2004\/11\/09\/the-exam-countdown-2-1\/","url_meta":{"origin":1637,"position":4},"title":"The Exam Countdown 2…1","author":"meanwhile","date":"November 9, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"*woohoo* No more gravity, no more light, no more structures. Who needs that stuff anyway. The thing with physics (and other science subjects) is that they split the course into two, and so there's a midyear exam as well. That means that each exam is worth less than for subjects\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All Posts"","block_context":{"text":"All Posts","link":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/all-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1642,"url":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/2004\/11\/07\/the-exam-countdown-3-2-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":1637,"position":5},"title":"The Exam Countdown 3…2","author":"meanwhile","date":"November 7, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Math Methods Paper 2 (Exam 3\/5) *woohoo* Had my second maths exam today. Extended answer. I didn't manage my time too well, but finished OK, and had time enough to look over some of my answers. I think I did pretty good on this one, there were a few that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All Posts"","block_context":{"text":"All Posts","link":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/all-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/padotI-qp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1637","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1637"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1637\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1637"},{"taxonomy":"metadata","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/metadata?post=1637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}