In Paradise was published by Riverhead Books on April 1, 2014 — just four days before Peter Matthiessen’s death on April 5, at the age of eighty-six. It is his final novel and, in a sense, his final statement: a book about whether contemplative practice — specifically Zen meditation, which Matthiessen had practiced for decades as an ordained Zen priest — can address the reality of Auschwitz.
The Novel
The book is based on actual interfaith meditation retreats held at Auschwitz-Birkenau beginning in 1996, organized by Zen teacher Bernie Glassman. Matthiessen attended one such retreat, and the novel draws closely on that experience while fictionalizing the participants and their interactions.
Clements Olin, an American academic of Polish-Jewish ancestry, arrives at Auschwitz for a week-long meditation retreat. He is ostensibly researching his family history — a relative who may have sheltered Jews during the occupation, or may not have. Around him gather a diverse group: a Holocaust survivor, a former SS officer’s daughter, Buddhist monks, Catholic nuns, Jewish practitioners, and various seekers.
The group sits in meditation on the selection platform at Birkenau. They walk the camp grounds. They chant. They weep. They argue — furiously, sometimes viciously — about whether this enterprise is meaningful or obscene. Can meditation “heal” Auschwitz? Should it? Who has the right to sit in contemplation on ground soaked in the blood of millions?
The Questions
The novel refuses to answer its own questions. It does not conclude that meditation heals Auschwitz, nor that it fails to. It holds the tension between spiritual practice and historical evil in suspension — which is perhaps the only honest response.
Matthiessen raises the problem of appropriation: mostly non-Jewish Westerners practicing Buddhist meditation at a site of Jewish annihilation. He raises the problem of sentiment: tears shed at Auschwitz that may be more about the weeper than the dead. He raises the problem of forgiveness: whether anyone has the right to forgive on behalf of others.
Context
Matthiessen was an ordained Zen priest (dharma name: Muryo) and had practiced seriously since the 1970s. His Buddhism informs all his late work — The Snow Leopard, the Nine-Headed Dragon River memoir, and the contemplative quality of Shadow Country. In Paradise represents his most direct confrontation with the question: what can spiritual practice do in the face of irredeemable evil?
The book was completed during Matthiessen’s final illness (leukemia). He died knowing it would be published; he did not live to see its reception.
Reception
Reviews were respectful but divided. Some critics found the novel too schematic — characters representing positions rather than living as people. Others recognized the extraordinary courage of an eighty-six-year-old writer confronting the most difficult subject imaginable in his final work. The consensus regards it as a minor but deeply felt addition to the Matthiessen canon — not the masterpiece that Shadow Country was, but a fitting valediction.
Collecting In Paradise
First edition (Riverhead Books, New York, 2014): Hardcover with dust jacket. Published April 1, 2014.
Identification points:
- Riverhead Books (Penguin imprint)
- “First Edition” stated
- 238 pages
Market values: Fine copies in dust jacket bring $50–$150. Matthiessen’s death four days after publication gives the book a memento mori quality that sustains interest.
Signed copies: Extremely scarce — Matthiessen was dying during the publication period. Any signed copy would bring a significant premium ($500+) as essentially the last book he could have signed.
Advance Reading Copies: Collected as they represent the final Matthiessen work in its pre-publication form ($100–$200).