Anna Pastuszka
A b s t r a k t
Since the publication of Zdążyć przed Panem Bogiem [Eng. Shielding the Flame] in East Germany (1979) and West Germany (1980), Hanna Krall’s reportages have enjoyed popularity among readers and recognition among critics. However, no new translations have appeared in the last ten years. This article discusses the reception of Krall’s literary reportages on the Holocaust in books, academic articles, and the German press, analyzing them to reveal the characteristic features of the author’s narrative (the poetics of understatement, minimalist language, details) and the contexts of reading: the work of memory, testimonial literature, literary representations of the Holocaust, Polish-Jewish relations and fates, and the genre of the reportage. The paper concludes with a list of names of translators of Hanna Krall’s reportages into German.