The Shadow of Death

The Shadow of Death: Letters in Flames is an analytical study of eight major Jewish and Israeli writers who wrote about the experience of the Shoah (Holocaust). The book is divided into two main sections. The first section "The Holocaust Experience from Within" analyzes literary works by the writers Aharon Appelfeld, Elie Wiesel, Primo Levi, Ka-tzetnik, and Jerzy Kosinski - who experienced the Holocaust firsthand. The second section is devoted to "After the Holocaust - Experience from Without," concentrating mainly on the literary analysis of works by writers who responded to the Holocaust after the event. They are the Israeli writers Hanoch Bartov, Hayim Gouri, and Yehuda Amichai. The book is literary oriented with a prominent focus on textual and literary analysis of major examples of Holocaust literature. It purports to examine the texts under study and analyze them by pointing out literary devices that indicate the writers' perception of the Holocaust and their attempt to convey the meaning and significance of the Holocaust to the modern reader.