Mention Books In Favor Of The Wall
| Original Title: | The Wall |
| ISBN: | 0394756967 (ISBN13: 9780394756967) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Setting: | Warsaw Ghetto(Poland) |
| Literary Awards: | Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for Fiction (1951), National Jewish Book Award for Fiction (1950) |
John Hersey
Paperback | Pages: 640 pages Rating: 4.28 | 1871 Users | 66 Reviews
Identify Epithetical Books The Wall
| Title | : | The Wall |
| Author | : | John Hersey |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Deluxe Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 640 pages |
| Published | : | March 12th 1988 by Vintage Books (first published 1950) |
| Categories | : | Historical. Historical Fiction. Fiction. World War II. Holocaust. War |
Representaion Conducive To Books The Wall
In the Warsaw Ghetto there was an underground group of archivists known as the Oyneg Shabbes. Their function was to chronicle the Nazi atrocities for posterity. These journals were famously buried in parts of the ghetto. Some were later discovered; others weren't. John Hersey writes this novel in the form of one of these fictitious journals. He reports the conversations he has with a group of disparate characters, including a Jewish Policeman, members of the Jewish council, smugglers, Gestapo informers and fighters. It's a form that allows him to load the book with information, cram in as much of his research as possible - in other words it gives him the overview scope of a non-fiction book. What's lost in this process is dramatic tension. The individual characters are dwarfed by all the historical information. Also, various genuine journals have survived so why write or read a fictitious one? If historical novels are to provide us with an experience that eludes non-fiction books, it's critical they press us up much more closely to the events described through an empathy with the central characters. In many ways The Wall is the novelist playing safe - he is admitting his own limitations by cocooning himself in a bunker and relying on other voices to tell him what happened. For me he could have been imaginatively braver; he could have embraced the spirit of fiction more daringly instead of submitting so conscientiously to chronicling facts. Fiction at its best transcends fact. (Lauren Binet playfully examined the fact vs fiction conflict so brilliantly in his novel HHhH.)I recently read a real journal of the Ghetto which got me interested in the subject and one of the fascinating things about it was the profusion of untrue rumour or, in modern parlance, fake news. Fake news abounded in the ghetto where virtually all contact with the outside world was cut off. The populace was made all the more insecure by not having a clue what to believe and what to disbelieve. Intelligence deteriorated into ignorance and ignorance is the first step to mindlessness, to dehumanisation. Hersey has the hindsight to correct all the fake news. So, most of what he writes is uncannily true - except, conversely, it wasn't true in spirit because often he was giving his archivist his own hindsight. What this means, is this novel occupies a kind of hinterland between fiction and non-fiction - but again without the irony Binet masters in HHhH.
As I said, the form of the novel, reported conversations with his cast of characters, might allow him to load the novel with information from different perspectives but it doesn't favour dramatic tension. Never is this more apparent than during the uprising itself, perhaps the most difficult of all ghetto events to imagine, and this is the weakest part of the novel - probably because it's also the hardest part of the true story to research. Most participants died, survivors only experienced the fight against the Nazis in a piecemeal fashion. The most baffling aspect of the uprising was how so few individuals completely untrained in handling weapons managed to hold out longer against the Germans than the entire Polish nation. You can't help wondering why the Nazis fled so easily. It's hard to believe many were killed by individuals firing a loaded weapon with so little ammunition for the first time in their lives from great distances. Without wanting to belittle the achievements of the Jewish fighters in any way you have to assume that the SS regiments engaged in the ghetto fighting, unlike the Wehrmacht, were a cowardly bunch. Typical bullies in other words. They didn't like being shot at.
There's a lot of wisdom in this novel and, despite its flaws, it does give a comprehensive picture of what life in the Warsaw Ghetto entailed so I'd recommend it if you're interested in the subject matter. I'd also recommend it to lovers of dystopian fiction as the Warsaw Ghetto might serve as the archetypal end of time experience for anyone who lived there.
Rating Epithetical Books The Wall
Ratings: 4.28 From 1871 Users | 66 ReviewsWeigh Up Epithetical Books The Wall
This was a very hard read emotionally, and it was also stunningly beautiful. I'll write more on my blog soon.Brilliantly written ... the part I've read so far forces the reader to feel the relentless closing of the ghetto
Though it was a long and arduous book, it was so worth the read. Based on the actual archives of Emmanuel Ringelblum, the fictionalized Noach Levinson archives are a phenomenal account of life in the Warsaw Ghetto. The hidden cache of documents served to record every aspect of living behind the ghetto walls from personal relationships and deportations, to deteriorating conditions and the formations of the resistance. Noachs keen sense of observation and meticulous chronicling didnt miss a thing.
In the Warsaw Ghetto there was an underground group of archivists known as the Oyneg Shabbes. Their function was to chronicle the Nazi atrocities for posterity. These journals were famously buried in parts of the ghetto. Some were later discovered; others weren't. John Hersey writes this novel in the form of one of these fictitious journals. He reports the conversations he has with a group of disparate characters, including a Jewish Policeman, members of the Jewish council, smugglers, Gestapo
An interesting account of life in the Warsaw ghetto, albeit delivered in a slightly unusual 'diary-like' manner. Much like the Ghetto must have been on a crisp April morning in 1942, the reader is introduced to a crowded group of characters, who, at points, seem overwhelming. Nevertheless, as is expected for a novel of this size, the fog soon lifts and it is not difficult for the reader to quickly become absorbed in the day-to-day activities of each character. The descriptions of living
Not at all what I thought I remembered from my first reading mote than 50 years ago--almost clinical in its structure.
In my ever increasing interest in the Warsaw ghetto uprising, I've been gathering books from various libraries to try and wrap my brain around the perilous and courageous act of the Jews of Warsaw during 1943. One of the books in my pile was The Wall by John Hersey, a 640 page novel that I honestly wasn't sure I'd get around to any time soon. But then I read the first few pages and I was hooked. It was a lot to take in. I feel like I need to read it a few more times to fully understand
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