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Literary Devices
Definition of Allusion
In literature, an allusion is an unexplained reference to someone or something outside of the text. Writers commonly allude to other literary works, famous individuals, historical events, or philosophical ideas... read full definition
In literature, an allusion is an unexplained reference to someone or something outside of the text. Writers commonly allude to other literary works, famous individuals... read full definition
In literature, an allusion is an unexplained reference to someone or something outside of the text. Writers commonly allude to... read full definition
Experiences in a Concentration Camp
Explanation and Analysis—Death in Tehran:
In Part I, Frankl concludes a section about fate and apathy with an allusion to the folktale Death in Tehran. He connects a particular memory of the concentration camp with the central theme of the tale:
Does this not bring to mind the story of Death in Teheran? A rich and might Persian once walked in his garden with one of his servants. The servant cried that he had just encountered Death [...] On returning to his house the master himself met Death, and questioned him, “Why did you terrify and threaten my servant?” “I did not threaten him; I only showed surprise in still finding him here when I planned to meet him tonight in Teheran,” said Death.
Importantly, this allusion differs from Frankl’s earlier quotations of Nietzsche, Freud, Lessing, or Dostoevsky. For one, the story’s origin as a folktale makes this allusion a popular reference—likely known to a wide readership—rather than a scholarly one. These origins of Death in Tehran influence the purpose the story serves in Man’s Search for Meaning: it is emotional rather than informative.
At this moment in the narration—when Frankl concludes an anecdote with the foreboding realization that cannibalism had broken out—Death in Tehran creates an ominous mood for the readers. A similar allusion occurs later in Part I, again to conclude a chilling account, when Frankl remembers Death in Tehran again once he hears of his friends who perished. In both instances, he references the tale to leave readers thinking about the perils of fate over free will in the concentration camps.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Dostoevsky and Rilke:
In Man’s Search for Meaning, Frankl alludes often to the novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky and the poet Rainer Maria Rilke. Frankl includes direct quotations from these two writers' works that tend to focus on the experience of human suffering. For example, in Part I, Frankl writes:
[Dostoevsky] said once, “There is only one thing that I dread: not to be worthy of my sufferings.” These words frequently came to my mind after I became acquainted with those martyrs whose behavior in camp, whose suffering and death, bore witness to the fact that the last inner freedom cannot be lost.
This Dostoevsky quotation puts words to Frankl’s observations and experiences in the concentration camp. Literature, therefore, provides him the means to make clear sense of what he is observing in his fellow prisoners. Later on, Frankl comments similarly on Rilke’s belief that suffering is something to “get through” rather than avoid.
From these allusions to Dostoevsky and Rilke, readers see how Frankl turns to literature in order to ruminate on what it means to suffer. These instances, therefore, uncover two key themes of Man’s Search for Meaning. For one, Frankl himself was influenced by a variety of disciplines—psychology, philosophy, and literature—and his book participates in all these approaches. It also seems that for Frankl, literature may be a uniquely effective medium through which to examine the experience of human suffering.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Nietzsche, Freud, Lessing:
Across Man’s Search for Meaning, Frankl includes numerous references to the philosophers Friedrich Nietzsche and Theodor Lessing, as well as the psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud—all scholars of the late 19th or early 20th centuries. These references include both direct quotation and paraphrases of their bodies of work.
Of Frankl’s frequent allusions, the most notable remains a direct quotation from Nietzsche, appearing three times in the book, such as in Part I:
Nietzsche's words, “'He who has a why to live for can bear with almost any how,” could be the guiding motto for all psychotherapeutic and psychohygienic efforts regarding prisoners.
Harold E. Kushner even writes of Frankl’s fondness for this quotation in the Forward to Man’s Search for Meaning. Nietzsche’s perspective underpins a great portion of Frankl’s arguments about finding the strength to survive during unimaginable hardships. Across both parts of the book, Frankl returns constantly to the idea that readers must identify what gives meaning to their lives and cling to this purpose even when all else is lost.
Allusions to the prominent psychologists and philosophers of the late 19th or 20th centuries shed light on the writers who influenced Frankl as a thinker and as a writer. Moreover, these references to the works of Nietzsche, Lessing, and Freud uncover for the reader the philosophical and psychotherapeutic theories that underpin Frankl's school of thought in Man's Search for Meaning.
Related Themes:
