Synopses & Reviews
Tales of Grabowski comprises two novellas,
Transformations, and
Escape, together with several short stories, all of which tell the story of David Gordon, a young Jew from Warsaw, who transforms himself into Wladyslaw Grabowski, a Polish stoker in the German merchant marine.
Auerbach balances the internal tensions between Gordon's desire to fight for revenge and Grabowski's desperate need for survival. Throughout the war, involvement with espionage, with friends and smuggling, bring him ever closer to that thin line that separates life from death.
Drawing on deeply personal experiences the story of Auerbach's own survival Transformations, and Escape and undiscovered masterpieces of twentieth century writing.
Review
"He should be read by all good readers because John is full of sympathy and never writes without strong feeling. Hes not diffuse. Like so many writers of his generation hes given to art completely. Hes so used to living in dreams he doesnt have any ambitions. Why is he not better known? Known at all? " Saul Bellow, from Introduction
Review
"[T]he story of Gordon's life much of which overlaps with Auerbach's own shows that Holocaust narratives have not lost their power to illuminate humanity's darker impulses." Publishers Weekly
Review
"Auerbach's prose has a raw, spare quality..." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"This highly autobiographical account works best when it shows what life was like behind enemy lines....A worthy addition to the expanding literature on the Holocaust." Library Journal
About the Author
John Auerbach was born in Warsaw in 1922, and served as a soldier in the Polish army at the beginning of the Second World War. During the German occupation, he escaped from the Warsaw Ghetto and worked on German ships as a stoker under false identity. He wrote and published twelve books of short stories and novellas (translated into Hebrew), as well as stories published in American literary magazines. Auerbachs short story, The Owl, was awarded First Prize in the first, PEN/UNESCO Awards in 1993.
Table of Contents
Transformations --Escape --Anatomy and death of a dream --Episodes in autobiography --Border incident.