Night: from Struggling Work to Timeless Masterpiece
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Night: From Struggling Work to Timeless Masterpiece
Elie Wiesel’s Night is far more meaningful that any novel or memoir; it is physical representation of both the horrors of the Holocaust as well as the impressions it has left behind for today. Night was first published as a part of a series of works the same year Wiesel wrote it, but it wasn’t until 1958, four years later, when it was published as his own masterpiece and truly gained attention. Until then, the book was turned down by numerous publishers. They promptly excused it as a story that people did not want to hear. Today we realize how ignorant it is to dismiss such significant times in our history. But it was the ignorance Wiesel endured and fought in order to get his global message across. Years of hardships and effort went into the writing and publication of this book and yielded a debatable masterpiece for the ages.
Wiesel first began to write his story in 1954, while he was on board a ship to Brazil. The ten years of misery had been bottled up inside him until one night he began to write his story. It was originally 852 pages and titled Und di Velt Hot Geshvign (Yiddish for “And the World Remained Silent”). It was published in Argentina that year as a part of a series of memoirs but gained no recognition (Ellie 1321-1323). Wiesel resumed his career as a journalist in France.
Because of an acquaintance, Nobel laureate François Mauriac, a slight ray of attention was shone on Wiesel’s book (Donadio). It was Mauriac who urged Wiesel to tell his long-hidden story. Mauriac wrote a preface for his book, which they both thought would give the book more appeal. However, no publisher dared to take it on, saying that it was too morbid, and people did not want to hear that type of story. In what sort of world can one take such little pity on the victims of such heinous crimes? Wiesel realized that it was his duty, not as a survivor but as a human, to make humanity aware of the atrocities...
Elie Wiesel’s Night is far more meaningful that any novel or memoir; it is physical representation of both the horrors of the Holocaust as well as the impressions it has left behind for today. Night was first published as a part of a series of works the same year Wiesel wrote it, but it wasn’t until 1958, four years later, when it was published as his own masterpiece and truly gained attention. Until then, the book was turned down by numerous publishers. They promptly excused it as a story that people did not want to hear. Today we realize how ignorant it is to dismiss such significant times in our history. But it was the ignorance Wiesel endured and fought in order to get his global message across. Years of hardships and effort went into the writing and publication of this book and yielded a debatable masterpiece for the ages.
Wiesel first began to write his story in 1954, while he was on board a ship to Brazil. The ten years of misery had been bottled up inside him until one night he began to write his story. It was originally 852 pages and titled Und di Velt Hot Geshvign (Yiddish for “And the World Remained Silent”). It was published in Argentina that year as a part of a series of memoirs but gained no recognition (Ellie 1321-1323). Wiesel resumed his career as a journalist in France.
Because of an acquaintance, Nobel laureate François Mauriac, a slight ray of attention was shone on Wiesel’s book (Donadio). It was Mauriac who urged Wiesel to tell his long-hidden story. Mauriac wrote a preface for his book, which they both thought would give the book more appeal. However, no publisher dared to take it on, saying that it was too morbid, and people did not want to hear that type of story. In what sort of world can one take such little pity on the victims of such heinous crimes? Wiesel realized that it was his duty, not as a survivor but as a human, to make humanity aware of the atrocities...