almost meeting: the quest for the Holocaust in Canadian Jewish fiction

This paper examines the representation of the Holocaust in three Canadian novels: Henry Kreisel's 'The rich man', A.M. Klein's 'The second scroll' and Mordechai Richler's 'St Urbain's Horseman'. Their treatment of the Holocaust is discussed in the context of the survivor's reluctance to write about the direct experience of the horrors. The recurring pattern of quest in the three novels demonstrates how the outsider gravitates toward the experinece and simultaneously withdraws from it. The theme of the unsuccessful jouirney across the Atlantic, erects a metaphorical screen beteen the North American outsider and the naked reality of the European tragedy.