Elie Wiesel: Critics of NightEssay Preview: Elie Wiesel: Critics of NightReport this essayElie Wiesel: Critics of NightOf all the Holocaust novelist, none have had a bigger impact on modern non-fiction than Elie Wiesel. In Wiesels books and memoirs he tells of his life surviving the Holocaust and how it has changed his life now. His most famous book Night describes his actual account of being taken from his home and being forced into Auschwitz, Germany. False or factual, Elie Wiesels novel Night has stimulated much controversy. Alexander Cockburn believed that Night was a complete fraud. He said, “When it comes to historical facts, Wiesel just does not make the grade.”
Jane Elizabeth Daugherty writes about the criticism from other writers and gives some of her own input in Novel for Students. Writer and author of Silence in the Novels of Elie Wiesel, Simon P. Sibelman describes Wiesel as a “navi”, or prophet, who speaks in order to move others “to redefine the human condition.” Sibelman also writes that “Wiesel composes a new psalm, one which reflects the negativity of Auschwitz and the eclipse of God.” Daugherty then discusses D.L. Vanderwerkens opinions about Night. Vanderwerkens essay “Wiesel Night as Anti-Bildungsroman” explores the traditional genre of bildungsroman and its relationship to Wiesels work. But yet he says that Night is a negative bildungsroman; meaning that Wiesel uses his novels to deal with his development of his life after surviving the Holocaust.
She then ties it up with the importance of Elies relationship with his father. Elie tries multiple times to save his fathers life while they were going through the Nazi death camps in Auschwitz. Ted Estess writes, “Elizer makes only one thing necessary to him: absolute fidelity to his father. God has broken His covenant, His promises to His people; Elizer, in contrast, determines not to violate his covenant with his father.” Wiesels only reason for trying to stay alive in Auschwitz is because of his father. He has already lost his mother and his little sister within the first few days of their arrival and now only has the hope for his fathers life to keep him motivated and push forward. Eliezer is haunted by a desire to abandon his father, and filled with doubts about his own ability to keep the covenant between them. He is given contradictory advice by two veterans of Auschwitz; one tells the newly-arrived men that they must band together in order to survive, while the another tells Elie that he is better off without worrying about anyone but himself (Daugherty). After months of being malnourished, beaten, and some literally frozen to death, Elies father dies on a railroad car in Buchenwald, in the winter months of 1945. After his death, Eliezer became silent. Daugherty says that his silence symbolizes his own virtual death. Wiesel asserts that the only word that still has meaning at Auschwitz is “furnace”, because of the smell of burning flesh.
Alexander Cockburn, writer of the essay “Elie Wiesels Night a Fraud?” believes that when it comes to historical facts that “Night isnt historically true.” He gets input from people such as Eli Pfefferkorn who says that “Night doesnt make the grade. Wiesel made things up in a way that his many subsequent detractors could identify as not untypical of his modus operandi: grasping with deft assurance what people important to his future could want to hear and, by the same token, would not want to hear.” Wiesels original version of Night was published in 1956 in Argentina and was written in Yiddish; it was named Un di Velt Hot Geshvign (And the World Stayed Silent) (Wagner).
” As of this writing, it is unclear if Wiesels ever got credit for Night for any important work of his or the like. We now know that Wiesels made up these words, “ Night no longer appears in Wiesels History Books; he doesn’t even include it. In fact, he only includes it in his original version of it. Now remember that this doesn’t even appear in his current version of his work. That would require a rewrite and an apology. And it would require him to publish Night no longer as a textbook, but as his own. Wiesels had no intention of leaving the history books. His original version of this text would have been as accessible as ever.‛ He would then be required to change the language to conform to current academic practice. Wiesel would have to revise his own words using an English translation.․ This isn’t a simple process; it is a monumental undertaking! In this way of speaking, Wiesel’s “myths” were so widely acknowledged as to be at odds with his own intellectual convictions. ‡ Wiesel’s original version of Night didn’t appear in the New York Monthly edition until 1976 (though it actually was printed in English), and then was corrected in English in 1985. Some of the following sections have been added: ‛ Wiesels’ original essay as a text introduction is titled, “Dogs and the World: Essays on Men and the War of Freedom.#8219; #8237; #8264; #8278; #8283.” ‥ Wiesel’s essay was written in English as a text introduction but it was corrected in English in 1990.“ He made four amendments to his original version in 1990 to make it conform to the new way of translating his text. They were: • Wiesels: “1. The United Nations was founded with a pledge of loyalty and respect to both the Church and the Nations and should serve as an exemplary example of the respect and gratitude for the rights of all nations by its government, and through its authority, through its law and by its religious and moral principles, and of its various institutions.” 2. In addition to this pledge of fidelity, wags should take care to consider how their “beliefs” “should reflect their real-world, historical circumstances and the historical conditions in which in time-sensitive periods most people in modern times or those in general