André Schwarz-Bart (May 23, 1928,

Metz Metz ( , , lat, Divodurum Mediomatricorum, then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand ...

, Moselle - September 30, 2006, Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe) was a French novelist of Polish-Jewish origins. He was awarded the 1967 Jerusalem Prize.

Biography

Schwarz-Bart's parents moved to France in 1924, a few years before he was born. His first language was

Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ve ...

and he learned to speak French on the street and in public school. In 1941 his parents were deported to Auschwitz. Soon after, Schwarz-Bart, still a young teen, joined the Resistance. It was his experiences as a Jew during the war that later prompted him to write his major work, chronicling Jewish history through the eyes of a wounded survivor. He spent his final years in Guadeloupe, with his wife, the novelist

Simone Schwarz-Bart Simone Schwarz-Bart (born Simone Brumant, 1938) is a French novelist and playwright of Guadeloupean origin. She is a recipient of the Grand prix des lectrices de Elle. Life Simone Brumant was born in 1938 at Saintes in the Charente-Maritime dep ...

, whose parents were natives of the island. The two co-wrote the book ''Un plat de porc aux bananes vertes'' (1967). It is also suggested that his wife collaborated with him on ''A Woman Named Solitude''. The two were awarded the Prix Carbet de la Caraïbe et du Tout-Monde in 2008 for their lifetime of literary work. He is best known for his novel ''Le Dernier des justes'' (translated into English as ''

The Last of the Just ''The Last of the Just'' is a post-war novel by André Schwarz-Bart originally published in French (as ''Le Dernier des justes'') in 1959. It was published in an English translation by Stephen Becker in 1960. It was Schwarz-Bart's first book a ...

''). The book, which traces the story of a Jewish family from the time of the

Crusades The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were ...

to the

gas chambers A gas chamber is an apparatus for killing humans or other animals with gas, consisting of a sealed chamber into which a poisonous or asphyxiant gas is introduced. Poisonous agents used include hydrogen cyanide and carbon monoxide. History ...

of Auschwitz, earned Schwarz-Bart the

Prix Goncourt The Prix Goncourt (french: Le prix Goncourt, , ''The Goncourt Prize'') is a prize in French literature, given by the académie Goncourt to the author of "the best and most imaginative prose work of the year". The prize carries a symbolic reward o ...

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

. He won the Jerusalem Prize in 1967. He died of complications after

heart surgery Cardiac surgery, or cardiovascular surgery, is surgery on the heart or great vessels performed by cardiac surgeons. It is often used to treat complications of ischemic heart disease (for example, with coronary artery bypass grafting); to corr ...

in 2006. One of his two sons with his wife Simone Schwartz-Bart is

Jacques Schwarz-Bart Jacques Schwarz-Bart (born 22 December 1962 in Les Abymes) is a French jazz saxophonist. Biography His mother is the Guadeloupean novelist Simone Schwarz-Bart, author of ''The Bridge of Beyond''. His father was French-Jewish author André Schwar ...

, a noted jazz saxophonist.

Bibliography

* (1959) ''Le Dernier des Justes''; published in English translation as ''

'' (1960) * (1967) ''Un plat de porc aux bananes vertes'', with Simone Schwarz-Bart. This work has not been published in English but a literal translation of the title would be "A plate of pork with green bananas". * (1972) '; published in English as ''A Woman Named Solitude'' (1973) * (1989) ''Hommage à la femme noire'' in collaboration with

; Published in English as ''In Praise of Black Women'' (2001) * (2009) ''L'étoile du matin''; published in English as ''The Morning Star'' (2011)

Notes

References

Hunter, Michelle (2000) ''Simone Schwarz-Bart''

External links

Obituary
in the '' International Herald Tribune'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Schwarz-Bart, Andre 1928 births 2006 deaths Writers from Metz 20th-century French Jews French people of Polish-Jewish descent 20th-century French novelists 21st-century French novelists Jewish novelists Jewish French writers Jerusalem Prize recipients Prix Goncourt winners French male novelists 20th-century French male writers 21st-century French male writers