Kaddish for a Child Not Born | Literary Criticism & Book Review

Kaddish for a Child Not Born Critical Overview

Kaddish for a Child Not Born has not received as much critical attention as Imre Kertész's first book, Fateless. English-language reviewers generally regard Kaddish and Kertész's subsequent novel Liquidation (2004) as experimental in form and less accessible. M. Anna Falbo wrote in Library Journal just after Kaddish was published that Kertész's novel is “rambling but always compelling.” She described the author's intent as an “exploration of identity and the will to survive.” Three years after publication Robert Murray Davis, writing for World Literature Today, described the book as very dense, but he still appreciated the work and recommended reading the slim novel in a single evening. Examination of the author's work increased considerably after the announcement that Kertész was awarded the 2002 Nobel Prize for Literature. But Tim Wilkinson, writing in The Hungarian Quarterly, severely criticized the original English translation (Vintage Press released a new translation, retitled Kaddish for an...
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