Poetry of the Revolution : Responses to the Avant-Garde: 10/14

I said this before but I think that this book is the ultimate form of realist literature. Reznikoff does not sugar-coat anything and does not leave anything out. Reading this is a way to comprehend what the holocaust really was. If you asked a survivor what the holocaust was, this is what they would tell you. Most survivors wont talk about the politics involved or the names of the people in charge of their suffering, they will only tell you about their suffering. This book therefore, had to have structure. In order to tell a story that has real, universal meaning you have to formulate a progression of events. Reznikoff seems to want to merge the ideas of experimental avant-garde writers and aspects of structured, traditional literature. Instead of focusing on the stories themselves and the unnecessary details, he focuses on the stories themselves. He wants people to look at how the story makes them feel and understand what in essence, the holocaust really was.