Abstract

This dissertation explores the themes of despair and revolt prevalent in the literary works of Nazi Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel. Despite the author's attempt to provide his readers with causes for hope and the more encouraging views found in his essays, contrary to the assessments of some scholars, we noticed a return in his latest novels to the despair he expressed originally. ;The introduction situates the works of Elie Wiesel in the general context of the Literature of the Holocaust. It deals with the difficulty of conveying into language the incommensurability of the Holocaust. ;The first chapter underlines the concept of anguish experienced by the archetypal Wieselian protagonist. Remembering his previous identity, the survivor retains the memory of a world that is no more. Linked to a feeling of guilt for having survived, this anguish culminates in the fear of succumbing to the loss of the self into madness. ;The second chapter explores the relation between the silence of the world during the Holocaust and the theological antisemitism experienced by the protagonists. It also addresses the sometimes specious difference between anger and hatred. On the one hand, anger is important for the survivor in order to assert his vitality. On the other hand, anger is easily transformed into hatred and the protagonists struggle with the feelings of revenge they experience against the perpetrators and the bystanders. The ultimate justice should take place in messianic times. Unadulterated, the survivor's memory serves as a refuge for the dead and a reminder to man and God of their ordeal. ;The third chapter examines the painful revolt of the believer against a God who remained silent during the Holocaust. God is being accused of cruelty and indifference and possibly of having Himself succumbed to madness, thus alluding to a return to the initial chaos that preceded creation. ;The conclusion deals with the ways Wiesel, sustained by the Hassidic tradition, extracts hope from despair, not as a means to overcome it, but as a way to be able to live with it. In so doing, he transforms despair into a constant which reinforces the identity of the survivor of the Holocaust, reconciling him with the dead