I’VE got Irene Nemirovsky’s Suite Francaise, which tells of her experiences in France under German occupation during the 1940s, next on my reading list.
But Irene Nemirovsky’s story didn’t come to light until 60 years later when her daughter published the manuscript that was found in a suitcase, and it is these papers that form the centrepiece of an exhibition in New York’s Museum of Jewish Heritage.
Museum visitors will be able to view the Suite Française manuscript in its entirety using an interactive computer program in the exhibition.
Visitors can flip through the manuscript, and witness for themselves the tiny writing, evidence that the author knew that paper was limited and that she was not sure when she would obtain more, and that time itself was a scarce resource.
Even if you can’t visit the exhibition in New York the museum’s special online section about Irène Némirovsky provides you with an insight into her life, as well as audio interviews with those involved in setting up the exhibition.
Perhaps the most poignant artefact that will be on display is a note with Irène’s last written words to her daughters, hastily written at an internment camp before being deported to Auschwitz, where she died.
“Courage and hope,” she wrote. “You are in my heart, my loved ones. May God help us all.”
Miraculously, the note reached the girls.
Woman of Letters: Irène Némirovsky and Suite Française opened on September 24 and runs until March 22, 2009 at the Museum of Jewish Heritage.