 Writing in the American literary magazine <unk> , Alvin H. <unk> called The Portage a " breakthrough work " that " <unk> " . He was struck by the book 's interplay between the landscape of swamp and jungle , and the " landscape of speech " — the former being " brilliantly registered " with its " immense feeling of <unk> " , and the latter , " even more dramatic " in the way it exposes " the dark underside of words " and how its use and misuse reveals the true nature of a person . He was particularly impressed by the depiction of Nazi hunter Emmanuel <unk> and his role as representative of the Jewish consciousness . <unk> noted that while Holocaust literature often either <unk> to " <unk> and apostrophe " , or sinks to " a <unk> <unk> of elegiac lament " , Steiner 's <unk> " <unk> between these two extremes , ... simultaneously records and <unk> , <unk> <unk> yet carries an immense affect " . What did concern the reviewer , however , was the way Steiner used ideas from his earlier works , that he had put them " virtually <unk> " into Hitler 's mouth , creating the impression that " Steiner 's understanding of Hitler were identical with the latter 's self @-@ understanding " . <unk> also questioned why the book had to end with Hitler 's speech . He said that Steiner 's <unk> Hitler plays " the devil 's game of language subversion " , making " madness [ sound ] like music " , something the real Hitler had <unk> . By stopping at this point , <unk> felt that Steiner " <unk> [ s ] , <unk> , to the seductive <unk> of negation " , which <unk> his own " high standards of moral intelligence " . But overall <unk> said The Portage " must be counted among the most vigorous attempts to portray the presence and meaning of Hitler " , forcing us to confront him " in a way hardly seen before in fiction " . 
