Cover of the American edition
The main character, Erik Cohen, tries to unravel the mystery behind a series of murders plaguing this already crippled prison-like environment, where people have stopped counting the dead and missing, and everyday life has become a constant struggle to survive. Erik Cohen understands this conflict well, for in his professional life, before the ghetto, he was a psychiatrist. In the most intricate of ways, Zimler manages to convey the delicate paths treaded by the inhabitants of the ghetto during their everyday journeys of survival. The looming darkness is masterfully presented with great realism, yet the author finds cracks in the façade and shines through with humorous moments and scenes which can remind us of the immortality and resilience of the human spirit. Through love, Zimler spotlights the relationships between characters and the strength of unspoken bonds between them. It is a tribute to life in a reality tainted by death, a search for love and compassion in an utterly brutal world in which both the best and absolute worst of human behavior is undeniable in daily existence.
The book has received quite a bit of critical praise from major publications around the world, The Guardian calling it, "Beautifully written, moving and disturbing, this packs a powerful, emotional punch" and the Spectator calling Zimler, "a present-day scholar and writer of remarkable erudition and compelling imagination, an American Umberto Eco".
As author Richard Zimler has stated about his goals in writing the book,
Erik Cohen becomes one of the many millions persecuted by the Nazis, but he is also much more than that. He is a father trying to make amends for having neglected his daughter when she was a child. He is a hardworking therapist and faithful friend. He's grumpy when sleepy, given to boisterous laughter and a fan of the Marx Brothers and jazz. He demonstrates astounding courage at a time when he might easily give in to despair. And at his hardest times, he likes to sit at his bedroom window, puff away on his pipe and look up at the stars. He likes to imagine that all of nature is on the side of the Jews in their fight for survival.
Born in 1956, Richard Zimler grew up in the suburbs of Roslyn Heights in Long Island, New York. A best-selling author of fiction, his works have been published across the globe and translated into 20 languages. Zimler holds a master's degree in Journalism from Stanford University and a bachelor's degree in Comparative Religion from Duke University. His novels are well researched and vividly written, allowing his readers to submerge themselves in the abyss of his fiction. Zimler has won numerous international awards for his books. In 1994, he received the National Endowment of the Arts Fellowship in Fiction award, and 1998 brought him the Herodotus Award. In 2009 he received the Alberto Benveniste literary prize in France for his novel Guardian of the Dawn. The same year, The Warsaw Anagrams was named Book of the Year by the Portuguese book magazine, "Ler", and received also the 2010 Mariquis de Ouro prize, awarded by teachers and students in Portugal. The Warsaw Anagrams was also named as one of the 20 Best Books of the decade 2000 - 2009 by their most influential paper, Publico.
Zimler's fascination with Warsaw and its history is tightly knit with the fabric of his own family. Being a third generation immigrant, whose grandparents migrated to the US from Poland at the brink of the 19th century, he'd often heard about the old country. His family on his mother's side from Brzezin, near Łódź where his grandfather was a tailor and his grandmother worked in the textile industry. It was a family of ten siblings, out of which eight made the journey to the US. During the Second World War, the remaining family members ended up in Łódź's ghetto and were later sent to concentration camps. The only surviving family member was his mother's cousin, Samuel Minchenberg, who worked as a tailor in Brussels.
The link to the story lies on his father's side of the family, which came from Warsaw. Zimler's grandfather served in the Russian army in the XIX century and emigrated to the US shortly after his return to Poland. His aunts and uncles shared the same uncertain fate of many thousands of Jews living in the Warsaw Ghetto under the occupation. The writer currently resides in Portugal.
Zimler says that the idea for the The Warsaw Anagrams came from this connection and the desire to describe everyday life in the Ghetto:
I was curious about where the schools used to be, what people did, how they got food, if Poles had contact with those inside of the Ghetto. I decided to find out, so I reached for literature. I found Mary Berg's journal from the Warsaw Ghetto, which was very helpful. In 2008 I came to Warsaw for five days to see the remains of the ghetto for my own eyes. The ghetto fascinates me, it's like an island cut off from the world by walls.
I decided to write the story of a Jewish psychiatrist who survived the concentration camp and returns to a city and finds all of his friends have disappeared. I've always been interested in what happens to a person during such a tragic event as war. It's a very important subject for me.
The American edition was published by Overlook Hardcover in 2011. The Polish edition was published by Zysk I S-ka later that year. The French edition was published in 2013 by Buchet Chastel.
The book is available for purchase on amazon.com.
Source: Zysk I S-ka, The Guardian, The Spectator, Amazon.com