Dawn | Literary Precedents
One possible source for Wiesel's novel is Frank O'Connor's short story "Guests of the Nation" (1931). In this work, an innocent soldier is being punished by the Irish. The ethics of killing an innocent victim play a role in both works; furthermore, in Wiesel's and O'Connor's stories, the innocent soldier is British. The confrontations between the British and Irish in O'Connor's work resemble the similar dispute between the British and Jews in Wiesel's novel. Other similar literary precedents include Brendan Behan's The Hostage (1959), which is based on O'Connor's story, and Albert...
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