The Invisible Voice: Meditations on Jewish Themes

by George Konrád, Peter Reich (Translator)

Written over the last two decades, the essays in this collection speak to what it means to be Jewish-historically, theologically, ideologically, philosophically-within the context of the Holocaust and the disintegration of Communism. George Konrád, a Diaspora Jew, espouses Zionism, he tells us, as one who might, if he chooses, move to Jerusalem, just as he might, if he chooses, move to Paris. Konrád, one of Europe's preeminent essayists and novelists, covers much ground in The Invisible Voice, from German collective guilt to assimilation, from the Diaspora Jew to Israel and Palestine. He discusses the participation of Jews in the "nationalist and Communist experiments," and the issue of forcing collective guilt on the Germans. He looks at European integration and how the Jews fit into it, and what their conduct should be. Should they work toward assimilation or separation in order to survive? These are thoughtful and provocative essays.

Genres: Nonfiction

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

aka György Konrád

George Konrád was a Hungarian novelist and essayist. Konrád was born in Berettyóújfalu, near Debrecen into an affluent Jewish family. He graduated in 1951 from the Madách Secondary School in Budapest, entered the Lenin Institute and eventually studied literature, sociology and psychology at Eötvös Loránd University. In 1956 he participated in the Hungarian Uprising against the Soviet occupation.