Items related to A Life in Pieces: The Making of Binjamin Wilkomirski
The strange story of the man who posed as a Holocaust survivor In 1996 a slim Holocaust memoir entitled Fragments was published in English, to universal acclaim. Hailed as 'a small masterpiece', awarded several prestigious literary prizes, it told a searing story: of a Jewish boy, born in Latvia, transported with his family to Poland's Majdanek concentration camp, where he witnessed horrifying scenes of death, privation and suffering. But within two years the author of Fragments, Binjamin Wilkomirski, had been unmasked as the adopted son of middle-class Swiss parents, raised in Zurich, who claimed to have recovered his repressed Holocaust memories through therapy. Soon comprehensive doubt had been shed on the veracity of his memoir, and eventually, on both sides of the Atlantic, the book was withdrawn by its publishers. Blake Eskin, an American journalist, has a unique authority to write the story of the man who posed as a Holocaust survivor. According to his grandmother, their ancestors shared the name Wilkomirski, and when Binjamin first came to New York on the triumphant promotional tour of a celebrated author, he not only came to visit Eskin's family but claimed kinship with them. Now Eskin has told the strange tale of the man who calls himself Binjamin Wilkomirski, and the eerie process by which his assumed identity was unravelled. Not only is A Life in Pieces the biography of an enigmatic and unfathomable individual; it also fascinatingly explores wider issues, from the delicate task of verifying survivors' testimonies to the evolution of the Holocaust memoir as a lucrative literary genre. And it is an unsettling personal account of how the author himself, and his vulnerable older relatives, were deceived by someone who had seemed to offer them a part of their ancestry they had thought irretrievably lost in the Holocaust.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
About the Author:
Blake Eskin has written for The New Yorker, the Forward, and other publications. He lives in New York City.
From Publishers Weekly:
HWhen Binjamin Wilkomirski published his childhood Holocaust memoir, Fragments, in 1996, it was met with both popular and critical praise. Soon, however, people began to voice concern over its authenticity , which ended in a full-fledged debunking on 60 Minutes in 1999. While much has been written about Wilkomirski, this stunning analysis by journalist Eskin is not only the best and most compelling account of the case, but places it in a broader social, political and cultural context that raises vital issues about history, identity, as well as personal and political responsibility. While the frame of the book is a fascinating personal memoir/journalistic investigation (Eskin's family, immigrant Jews from Latvia, contact Wilkomirski thinking they might be related to him), the power of the work comes from the author's ability to marshal the central arguments over Wilkomirski's life and work in order to illuminate the more important and interesting question of how humans deal with trauma. Moving from the specific, Eskin touches on such broader and controversial topics as what happens when Holocaust memoirs are exposed as fiction, thus giving fuel to Holocaust deniers; how Wilkomirski's book helped assuage Swiss guilt over Switzerland's actions during WWII; how Holocaust literature has become emblematic of human suffering, allowing even non-Holocaust survivors to identify with and take on the metaphors of "the survivor." This is brought home in Eskin's discussion of Lauren Grabowski, a Christian woman posing as a Jewish survivor who, under the name of Lauren Stratford, wrote an enormously popular, and discredited, memoir of child sexual abuse, Satan's Underground. A mixture of thrilling detective work and astute cultural criticism, this is an important contribution to Holocaust literature as well as to studies of psychological and cultural trauma. (Feb.)Forecast: This is bound to get major media attention, as Wilkomirski's story did, and will have brisk sales.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherAurum Press
- Publication date2002
- ISBN 10 1854107623
- ISBN 13 9781854107626
- BindingHardcover
- Number of pages245
- Rating
Top Search Results from the AbeBooks Marketplace
Stock Image
A Life in Pieces: The Making of Binjamin Wilkomirski
Published by
Aurum Press
(2002)
ISBN 10: 1854107623
ISBN 13: 9781854107626
Used
Hardcover
Quantity: 1
Seller:
Rating
Book Description Hardback. Condition: Good. The book has been read but remains in clean condition. All pages are intact and the cover is intact. Some minor wear to the spine. Seller Inventory # GOR003197704
Buy Used
US$ 2.82
Convert currency
Stock Image
A Life in Pieces: The Making of Binjamin Wilkomirski
Published by
Aurum Press
(2002)
ISBN 10: 1854107623
ISBN 13: 9781854107626
Used
Hardcover
Quantity: 1
Seller:
Rating
Book Description Condition: Very Good. 1686488671. 6/11/2023 1:04:31 PM. Seller Inventory # U9781854107626
Buy Used
US$ 5.64
Convert currency
Stock Image
A Life in Pieces: The Making of Binjamin Wilkomirski Eskin, Blake
Published by
Aurum Press
(2002)
ISBN 10: 1854107623
ISBN 13: 9781854107626
Used
Hardcover
Quantity: 1
Seller:
Rating
Book Description Condition: Used: Good. book is in decent condition, although not pristine. there may be some minor signs of wear or usage. Sold by a UK seller. Seller Inventory # 5420-056
Buy Used
US$ 8.37
Convert currency
Seller Image
A Life in Pieces
Published by
Aurum Press Ltd, Great Britain
(2002)
ISBN 10: 1854107623
ISBN 13: 9781854107626
Used
Hardcover
Quantity: 1
Seller:
Rating
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. The dust jacket has light wear. 245 pages with b/w photographs. Books listed here are not stored at the shop. Please contact us if you want to pick up a book from Newtown. Size: Size E: 7"-8" Tall (177-203mm). Seller Inventory # 130457
Buy Used
US$ 15.34
Convert currency
Seller Image
A Life in Pieces
Published by
Aurum Press, London
(2002)
ISBN 10: 1854107623
ISBN 13: 9781854107626
Used
Hardcover
First Edition
Quantity: 1
Seller:
Rating
Book Description Hard Cover. Condition: Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine. First Edition. A Fine unmarked copy with near Fine dustjacket which is not price clipped. 245 pages. Illustrations in the text. First UK edition, First printing. In 1996 a slim Holocaust memoir entitled Fragments was published in English, to universal acclaim. Hailed as a 'small masterpiece', awarded several prestigious literary prizes, it told a searing story: of a Jewish boy, born in Latvia, transported first to Poland's Majdanek concentration camp, then to Auschwitz, and the horrifying scenes of death and suffering he witnessed. But within two years its author, Binjamin Wilkomirski, had been unmasked as the Swiss-born adopted son of middle-class parents, raised in Zurich, who claimed to have unearthed his repressed Holocaust memories through therapy. Soon comprehensive doubt had been shed on the veracity of his memoir, and eventually the book was withdrawn by its publishers. Blake Eskin has a unique authority to write the strange story of the man who posed as a Holocaust survivor. According to his mother, their ancestors shared the name Wilkomirski, and when Binjamin first came to New York on the triumphant tour of a celebrated author, he not only came to visit Eskin's family but also suggested the possibility of kinship with them. The book tells how his assumed identity was gradually unveiled, and goes in search of the enigmatic and unfathomable individual who still calls himself Binjamin Wilkomirski. C3A Size: 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. Seller Inventory # 008866
Buy Used
US$ 10.32
Convert currency