BOOKS
469
tha t, towa rds the end o f 1941, the az is more or less stumbled into
globa l ex te rmina ti on . Haphaza rd dec isions on the pa rt of the ex te r–
mina to rs, di sbelief a nd lack o f inte res t on the pa rt o f the onl ooke rs,
di sbeli ef a nd impotence on the pa rt of the v ic tims a nd o fJ ews li vin g
out side o f Europe: Could thi s be the ex pla na ti on o f "the mos t te rribl e
single cr ime eve r committ ed in the whole hi sto ry of the wo rld',?
SAUL FRIEDLANDER
THE HERO WHO FAILED
THE VERY RICH HOURS OF COUNT VON STAUFFENBERG. By
Paul
West.
Harper and Row. $12.95.
While sc ience fi cti on fasc ina tes with its cool d ream o f
sc rupul ously invented technologies, historical fi c ti on encourages
fa lse wonde r -"So
that's
how it reall y was !" or , worse, "So tha t's how
it
really
wa !" Inve nting o r di scove ring mecha nical de ta ils o f name,
da te, a nd a rtifac t, a utho rs o f bo th kinds of fi ction a re tra pped in con–
jugati ons o f
to be-
pas t o r future - ye t unable to ofte r much
being,
onl y the
res
a t the root o f a bogus reality.
The problem fo r the write r o f genuinely hi storical fi cti on , then ,
is to devi se thoughts, fee lings, a nd ges tures fo r hi s cha racte rs so tha t
the unity o f known ac tion hums simu lta neously with huma n con–
sc iousness sensing itsel f a nd its soc ie ty. We wa nt a tuning fo rk that
sounds the accura te tone, yes; but we wa nt that note of seemingly
inconsequent vibra ti on too, knowing tha t one lite ra ll y produces the
othe r. This problem is reali zed by the he ro of Pau l West's
The Very
R ich Hours oj Count von StaujJenberg
,
a fi ctional histo ry about a ma n
who a ttempted , a nd fa il ed ,
to
assassina te Hitle r. The novel
IS
nar–
ra ted with luminesce nt sensibility, both write r's a nd he ro's :
Was it during these awful , fru stra ting weeks tha t I first developed
the notion tha t this was a ll my life was going to be? These would
be the fri ends I made, these would be the only enterpri se . It felt
reassuring to have things so fi xed , but demora lizing to know tha t
a ll those pos ible o ther li ves one dallies with , a nd saves up fo r
