Night (memoir)
Memoir of Holocaust survival and loss of faith.
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Elie Wiesel's Night, first published in 1956, recounts his time with his father in the Auschwitz and Buchenwald camps during 1944–1945.[1] Scholars remain uncertain about the precise degree to which Night constitutes factual memoir.[1]
Making and release
This was edited into a 245-page book published in Argentina in 1956 as Un di velt hot geshvign.[2] Night was first published in Buenos Aires in 1956 as the 117th volume in a series of Yiddish memoirs.[3] When the book was translated into French, the title shifted from the silence of the world to the abstract "night"[3] Wiesel was re-imagining his book for the global audience that it would eventually attain.[3]
Following the war, Wiesel settled in Paris and, by 1954, had finished an 862-page Yiddish manuscript detailing his wartime experiences.[2] Night* stands as the initial volume of a trilogy—completed by Dawn and Day—that traces Wiesel's journey from darkness into light.[4]
What the cited sources add
Franklin notes that Night, together with The Diary of Anne Frank, told the story of the Holocaust to the world.[3] A lucid new translation by Marion Wiesel was selected by Oprah Winfrey for her book club, and Night made its first appearance at the top of the New York Times best-seller list.[3] Franklin observes that Night has itself often been treated as a novel—by journalists, by scholars, and even by its publishers.[3] The story of how Night came into existence reveals the artistic and moral obligation to construct a credible persona and craft a beautiful work.[3]
As Naomi Seidman wrote in an essay analyzing Wiesel's revisions to the Yiddish text, "There are two survivors … a Yiddish and a French".[3]
References
- Wikipedia, "Night (memoir)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Franklin, Ruth (23 March 2006). "A Thousand Darknesses". The New Republic.; "Elie Wiesel Interview", Academy of Achievement, 29 June 1996, p. 3 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Night (memoir)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: ; . (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Franklin, Ruth (23 March 2006). "A Thousand Darknesses". The New Republic.. facts only, no text reused. newrepublic.com
- Wikipedia, "Night (memoir)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Franklin 2011, p. 69; Franklin, Ruth (23 March 2006). "A Thousand Darknesses". The New Republic. (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Night (memoir) (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Night (memoir) (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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