I have not changed my opinion that the Holocaust is a trauma of European civilization. Imre Kertesz changecivilizationeuropean Change image and share on social
It is often said of me - some intend it as a compliment, others as a complaint - that I write about a single subject: the Holocaust. I have no quarrel with that. Why shouldn't I accept, with certain qualifications, the place assigned to me on the shelves of libraries? Imre Kertesz acceptassigncomplaint share on social
A good autobiography is like a document: a mirror of the age on which people can 'depend.' In a novel, by contrast, it's not the facts that matter, but precisely what you add to the facts. Imre Kertesz addageautobiography Change image and share on social
The world of fiction is a sovereign world that comes to life in the author's head and follows the rules of art, of literature. And that is the major difference that is reflected in the form of the work, in its language and its plot. An author invents every aspect of a fiction, every detail. Imre Kertesz artaspectauthor share on social
No one in my family wrote. And there was no real introduction. I suppose I somehow blundered into it when I was about six or seven years old. I was asked what present I would like, and, without knowing why, I responded that I would like a journal. It was a beautiful journal - so beautiful that I didn't want to sully it. Imre Kertesz askbeautifulblunder share on social
What I discovered in Auschwitz is the human condition, the end point of a great adventure, where the European traveler arrived after his two-thousand-year-old moral and cultural history. Imre Kertesz adventurearriveauschwitz Change image and share on social
Modern life is organised so that you benefit at the expense of the other, and the most extreme example of that is a camp. Imre Kertesz benefitcampexpense Change image and share on social
If the world is an objective reality that exists independently of us, then humans themselves, even in their own eyes, are nothing more than objects, and their life stories merely a series of disconnected historical accidents, which they may wonder at, but which they themselves have nothing to do with. Imre Kertesz accidentdisconnectexist share on social