His most famous novel is Badenheim 1939 (1980, translated by Dalya Bilu), a horribly effective analogy of the crushing effect of the Holocaust in wartime Europe that shows that hope can be worse than despair.
There is a well-judged uneasiness in Badenheim 1939. Irony may seem a curious register for writing about the Holocaust, but if anyone is qualified to judge, it is Appelfeld.
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