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allow. It is ironic, then, that, while the fictional Freud attempts to demystify his patient’s illness in “Frau Anna,” Thomas undercuts the analyst’s rationalism elsewhere in the novel. Like Doris Lessing (though without her shrillness), Thomas finally affirms not psychoanalysis but spiritual transcendence. This is what occurs in the final section of The White Hotel, “The Camp,” where the novelist magically returns all the dead characters to life.

The setting shifts from the Babi Yar ravine to a Palestinian refugee camp after the war. Unlike the problematic emphasis upon the occult, we are not troubled by Thomas’ bold coda, for it is an imaginary universe, a metaphor of the mind’s capacity for regenerative illusions. Here, Lisa is reunited with her relatives and friends. The past is reborn into the present: the transit camp is another version of the white hotel. Even Freud shows up in the camp, ailing but alive.