The Philosopher of Auschwitz Jean Améry and Living with the Holocaust

by Heidelberger-Leonard, Irène; Bell, Anthea

• ISBN13: 9781848851504
• ISBN10: 1848851502
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-08-15
• Publisher: Bloomsbury

Summary

Who was Jean Améry? Victim or survivor? Agnostic or Jew? Austrian or exile? Philosopher or journalist? Jean Améry is not easy to classify but what this biography (the first in any language) demonstrates is that he is more -- far more -- than some enigmatic cult figure: he is one of the most influential of Holocaust survivors and one of the most provocative writers and thinkers of the 20th century. Jean Améry -- born Hans Maier -- is perhaps best known for At the Mind's Limits . Heidelberger-Leonard illuminates the turbulent life of this complex figure, from his origins in pre-war Austria; his flight to join the Resistance; his imprisonment in Auschwitz and Belsen; to his eventual suicide in 1978. This definitive biography examines how Améry grappled with being both a victim and survivor of the concentration camps and what his experiences there reveal about the tension between human dignity and the reality of horror.

Author Biography

Irène Heidelberger-Leonard is Professor of German Literature at the Free University of Brussels. She has written extensively on the German post-war period and is the editor of an edition of Améry's writings. Her biography of Jean Améry was named as non-fiction Book of the Year by the German Cultural Foundation in 2004 and was awarded the prestigious biennial Einhard Prize for Outstanding European Biography 2005.

Table of Contents

* Village Idyll (1912-1924) * Zirkusgasse 48 (1924-1935) * Hans Mayer as a writer of fiction - Die Schiffbrüchigen [The Shipwrecked], 1935/45 *Years of wandering (1938-1945) - The Mind Knows no Limits * Living on – but how and where? (1945-1955) - The principle of education * Jean Amery the journalist (1955-1965) - All Active on the Western Front * Drama of the mind in three acts - the autobiographical trilogy * Jean Amrey as a writer of fiction - the nightmare of life *  Last things - Existence as ‘essai’ * Appendix * List of abbreviations: titles of works * List of abbreviations: initials of persons and institutions * Notes * Picture credits * Acknowledgements * Index of works mentioned * Index of persons mentioned