Erstellt am: 31. 1. 2014 - 18:11 Uhr

The Book Thief

Markus Zusak, author of the bestselling novel "The Book Thief" gives FM4 a Reality Check on the journey from Australia to Hollywood via WW2 Germany and Austria.

Commemorations of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day (the day the Red Army liberated Auschwitz, January 27, 1945), were held this week all over the world. I saw images of Holocaust survivors laying down wreaths in concentration camps preserved for posterity, old men and women wearing striped hats and scarves, some even wearing striped prisoner jackets, symbols of solidarity and remembrance for those who perished.

fox2000

The numbers of these men and women dwindle from year to year. Stories of World War Two are now being told by first and second and even third generations which have not been directly affected but have great grandparents, grandparents, uncles and aunties, mums and dads, who were.
Markus Zasuk's father was a child in war-time Austria and his Mum was a child in war-time Germany. His parents emigrated to Australia and that's where the 38 year-old author of five books did his growing up.
All the while, hearing the stories of his European family.

APA

Former camp prisoners lay a wreath, Auschwitz, marking the 69th anniversary of the liberation of the German Nazi concentration and extermination camp, 27 January 2014

The Book Thief

Markus shaped those stories into a novel he didn't think would even get published back in 2005. The Book Thief was not only published, it became a bestseller, was translated into 30 languages, and has been made into a major Hollywood film starring Oscar-winner Geoffrey Rush and Oscar-nominated actress Emily Watson.
The movie is coming to theaters in Austria in mid-March.
The author Markus Zasuk is featured on FM4 tomorrow...

Markus Zasuk: I love metaphors and things like that in school, and of course the first time I used language like that it was pretty bad, it was things like “he climbed the tree like a monkey”, to use a simile just to get one in there. What I realized after a while was that I had started to write poems, and the poems were just terrible, and I’d written short stories that were no good either, and then I thought, “what if I put the two things together and there’s a kind of poetry in the prose?” So, it just made sense to me to write like that as well, I loved things stopped by a really beautiful image or a striking image in a book, where you’re seeing the world in a way that’s unexpected, but feels true to you as well.

John Cummins: On your Twitter profile, you say you’re still not sure how you managed to write “The Book Thief” – are you surprised, then, by the creative process, even after all these years as a professional writer?

Yeah, you just never know how it’s going to work out, and that’s the beauty of it as well. I mean, the book I’m writing now, it really should have been finished three years ago, but I’m still working on it. Every book is only as long as its ideas and you just have to spend the time with it. How do you get better at riding a bike? You spend time with it, you keep doing it and doing it, and that’s how I’ve always felt about writing. The hardest part is showing up at the desk, because if you don’t do that, nothing happens, and it’s the easiest job in the world to not do.

What was it like seeing your story filmed?

It was a very strange experience. You walk into a cinema and see this world that you sort of created, and I’ve seen it inside myself for so long in the writing of it – it was a world that existed inside the pages of the book and in me, and you walk into a cinema and you’re seeing it for the first time from the outside in, and then it strikes you a few seconds later, “Oh, this isn’t mine anymore”, and I kind of like that, there’s a kind of beauty in that.

I know a lot of authors say that writing a book is like giving birth, in a way. You have this thing that’s all yours to begin with, then you put it out there in the world, and it’s got its own life after that. Is that how you feel?

Yeah – it’s really nice when someone says “What was it like, giving up your baby?” and I say, “That’s no baby! By the time I’ve finished with it, it’s a disgruntled teenager, that you’re glad to say goodbye to!” but you still love it, and that’s the thing.

Even if it’s locked itself in its bedroom and hasn’t spoken to you for a week, right?

That’s right! It’s all part of the fun!

The Book Thief Author Markus Zusak

„The Book Thief“ - the story of a young girl seeking comfort in literature during the violent and scary days of Nazi Germany. Its author, Markus Zusak, tells John Cummins the story of his Austrian heritage, the incredible journey his career has taken him on so far, and the reason ‘Death’ makes a good narrator.