How would you react, if you were accidentally released from a Nazi camp in the midst of World War II and doomed to be hunted again? Could your mind ever be free again?
This novel begins with Jean Wahl’s release from Drancy near Paris, but it is impossible to describe the story as following a linear path. The reader sees all events through the interpretations of Wahl’s mind. Already wounded and damaged from his mistreatment in La Sante and then the internment camp, his voice is not the most reliable narrative. Even he, at times, has difficulty distinguishing his fears from the real scene before him; the reader is unsure whether the visions of Wahl are symptomatic of a weakened mental state or glimpses into the past or future.
Interestingly, the mind is described as stronger than the suffering body and it isn’t clear at first whether the plot confirms or contradicts this notion.
Because of the focus on the intellect and Wahl’s existential studies as a professor, it is especially noteworthy that Wahl is an atheist Jew at the time of his arrest; we are privy to a discussion he has prior with a student wherein he describes the question of God’s existence as the “absolute question”. Wahl even expresses frustration that philosophy fails to answer this question satisfactorily for him. He further muses during his recuperation that recognizing an Absolute could mean his own annihilation. What he sees as “religion”, with its structures, prevents him from moving any closer than the margins of belief.
The movement of the plot and the characters who assist Wahl to freedom keep the novella from falling into a complete stream of consciousness. Their kindness also lifts the plot from Wahl’s tragic thoughts and sad descriptions; the efforts of Wahl’s concierge and housekeeper, together with the sacrifices of the resistance fighters, baptize the book’s despair, while not completely cleansing a grisly murder and a demonic Nazi’s face from the reader’s mind. Nevertheless, light seems to win out against darkness, especially in the metaphor of the gates.
Wahl layers gate upon gate here, constructing levels of symbolic escapes.
First, prisoners emerge from the internment camp and pass through its gates to Paris. The doorways of his hotel and rooms temporarily denote safety for Wahl and his friend. Similarly, a house in the south of the country is a gateway to Free France; interestingly, Wahl finds no gate in the wall that marks the border for him and must leap over it to gain his freedom. Finally, he describes death as the ultimate gate while pondering what constitutes the gateway between dreamland and reality. The historic facts of Wahl’s life and escape are merely the foundation for this metaphoric and philosophical journey.
An afterword sheds unique light on the author’s intention. While this note presence breaks the mood of the story’s final scenes, it nevertheless clarifies the symbolism and purpose of the novella. Hackett lays on us all the commission to pass from “illusion to reality” and remarks on what death’s passage may be like.
Proposing that death is the true and final awakening from dreams, he declares that awakening to truth each morning and through each interaction is our best preparation.
Wahl’s atheism thus falls away as he is led by a child through his final gate at his life’s end. This story ends up being less about running from Nazis and more about distinguishing what is true. Survival is not marked by despair but by enlightenment. While the protagonist struggles with the vivid images left impressed upon his mind, they urge him to move on in life, to accept suffering, and to avoid senseless questioning and endless searching for “paltry” consolation, instead finding rest in truth.
By W. C. Hackett
Angelico Press, 119 pgs.
ISBN: 1621388085
