Book You May Have Missed (#3)

The Portage to San Cristobal of A.H. by George Steiner (1979)

This 126-page novella by French-born writer, linguist, critic, philosopher and teacher, George Steiner, was published in 1981 and was met with both great praise and severe criticism.

Not an Alternate History story but based on the premise that Adolph Hitler escaped from Berlin on the eve of the Russian takeover of the city, it tells of a group of Jewish Nazi-hunters who find an aging Hitler in the jungles of South America twenty-five years later and their attempt to get him back to civilization to stand trial for War crimes.

The controversy surrounding the book stems from Steiner giving voice to Hitler’s defence of Nazism and the Holocaust. Despite being Jewish himself, Steiner was accused of being anti-Semitic. In my opinion, a classic case of critics confusing the author’s opinions with those of his or her characters.

It is not an easy read but so well written that, if you are interested in the power of the spoken word, it’s worth the effort.

The cover shown above is from the 1981 Faber and Faber edition that I have and, oddly, shows no author’s name on the cover or spine.