A Beggar in Jerusalem (Magill’s Choice: American Ethnic Writers)
At a glance:
- Author: Elie Wiesel
- First Published: 1968
- Genres: Long fiction, Impressionistic literature
- Subjects: 1960’s, Jews or Jewish life, Storytelling, Soldiers, Israel or Israelis, Israel-Arab War
- Locales: Jerusalem
The Work
A Beggar in Jerusalem is told in the first person by David, heir to a bloody history of anti-Semitic persecutions. It is a novel in which Jewish survivors of destruction must confront their miraculous escape. In the process, although they suffer from guilt and anger, they ultimately forge an identity based on hope.
In June, 1967, the forty-year-old David goes to fight against the united Arab armies. He wishes to die in order to finally overcome the despair caused by God’s abandonment of the Jews during World War II and by his own pointless survival. At...
[The entire page is 663 words long]

