`Accident` by Elie Wiesel

p `Accident` by Elie Wiesel

Larson : Thank you for agreeing to give this interview , between your busy schedules . If you recall , this is my third meeting with you . Well coming to the point , Dawn , Night and now Accident .another heart-rending story

Wiesel : Fiction , experiencing the reality

Larson : Any more books on the theme of holocaust

Wiesel : Yes and no ! There could be any number of books as for holocaust is concerned . If the recorded history tells us that six million Jews perished in the Nazi Concentration Camps etc . it is

reasonable to assume that six million books can be written . Each suffering and death is an invaluable story . But a huge majority of the stories will never be told because not even their graves exist

Larson : Is the accident described in the book real ? Many accidents are reported everyday . What is the difference between those accidents and this one

Wiesel : Every accident is an accident from the secular point of view but from the spiritual point of view it is an incident . Why a particular accident happens at a particular time to a particular individual ? This is the question

Larson : Do you connect the suffering of the accidental victim to your own suffering in the concentration camps

Wiesel : To be honest , yes . Anything that abruptly happens in the life of in individual and puts him into a state of unbearable suffering is an accident . We were led to the concentration camps abruptly , when we were least mentally prepared for it . In the accident related in this book the sufferer did not invite that suffering . It was forced upon him

Larson : Any particular aim of this story apart from the dreaded theme of holocaust

Wiesel : The aim is to show how one adjusts to the state of suffering Whether one becomes brave or weak internally , is only known to that individual . He is the subject matter for study for many , the psychologist in particular

Lrson : Is it possible for a holocaust victim to get complete satisfaction in life

Wiesel : That 's impossibility . When in company , his attention is diverted and he may experience something that is akin to peace . But the real joy of human life will never emerge in his life . He has undergone a thousand life 's suffering during the holocaust . How can he wipe it out in the remaining part of this life ? This suffering will never diminish

Larson : Does the popularity of books give you some satisfaction

Wiesel : Not the type satisfaction which is expected of a successful writer . It has been possible for me to tell something to the world which should necessarily have been told-I possess that part of satisfaction

Larson : Your protagonist in the book wishes to end his life , unable to cope up with the suffering caused on account of the accident . Did such a thought ever occur to you in the concentration camp

Wiesel : It was not necessary - all of us knew that death was coming . I had to live for my father...