Irène Némirovsky

"On July 13, 1942, French gendarmes arrested Irene Nemirovsky in southern Burgundy. She has deported to Auschwitz where she died on August 19. Who was this woman, author of more than a dozed popular novels and more than thirty short stories, whose posthumous novel Suite Francaise won France's prestigious Renaudot prize in 2004? Born in Russia to wealthy parents, Irene Nemirovsky immigrated to Paris in 1919. Although she was Jewish, she associated with authors and politicians on the extreme right, some of whom were openly anti-Semitic. She was sure that these friends would protect her from deportation after the Nazis invaded France. Instead they abandoned her. Yet she never lost faith in France, even after she was refused French nationality. In this fascinating biography, Jonathan Weiss analyzes the discrepancy between Nemirovsky's real and imagined identities, and explores a literary work that revisits in a unique way Jewish identity, exile, betrayal, and the solidarity of a persecuted people."--book jacket.

Year

2005

Language

English

Publisher

Stanford University Press

Editions

1

Pages

200

ISBN

9780804754811

Data source: Wikidata