Francois Mauriac, a French journalist is the author of the forewards to Night of writing the preface. He tells of one specific interview. This was of Elie himself.
Elie tells of the horrific events at Holocaust. Muriac did not see the events himself, and had to have been shocked and appalled when Elie reveals that he was one of the children crammed into the trains and 'evacuated'. In Muriac's thoughts, he could not believe that any of it happened. But he comes to realize that it did; and to many others as well. Elie's story is a personal story, deeply rooted in personal experience, both physically and spiritually. It can be compared to that of Anne Frank, a German Jew.
Muriac also sees that the physical destruction isn't nearly as present as his spiritual depression. Many others experience the same loss of religion, in which one questions: how can God let something happen like this? Muriac is deeply affected by Elie's crisis of faith, in which the rest of the novel will explain. Muriac, however, sees suffering as a cornerstone of faith.
Mauriac concludes, and the power of Wiesel’s story, mostly the intensity of his spiritual crisis, overwhelmed him, and, struck speechless, he wept.
Elie tells of the horrific events at Holocaust. Muriac did not see the events himself, and had to have been shocked and appalled when Elie reveals that he was one of the children crammed into the trains and 'evacuated'. In Muriac's thoughts, he could not believe that any of it happened. But he comes to realize that it did; and to many others as well. Elie's story is a personal story, deeply rooted in personal experience, both physically and spiritually. It can be compared to that of Anne Frank, a German Jew.
Muriac also sees that the physical destruction isn't nearly as present as his spiritual depression. Many others experience the same loss of religion, in which one questions: how can God let something happen like this? Muriac is deeply affected by Elie's crisis of faith, in which the rest of the novel will explain. Muriac, however, sees suffering as a cornerstone of faith.
Mauriac concludes, and the power of Wiesel’s story, mostly the intensity of his spiritual crisis, overwhelmed him, and, struck speechless, he wept.
'Where is God? Where is He?' someone behind me asked... For more than half an hour [the child in the noose] stayed there, struggling between life and death, dying in slow agony under our eyes. And we had to look him full in the face. He was still alive when I passed in front of him. His tongue was still red, his eyes were not yet glazed. Behind me, I heard the same man asking:'Where is God now?' And I heard a voice within me answer him: 'Where is He? Here He is—He is hanging here on this gallows...'
No comments:
Post a Comment