{"id":3151,"date":"2012-04-13T05:31:02","date_gmt":"2012-04-13T09:31:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/julijasukys.com\/?page_id=3151"},"modified":"2020-01-10T23:14:04","modified_gmt":"2020-01-11T05:14:04","slug":"epistolophilia-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/julijasukys.com\/?page_id=3151","title":{"rendered":"Epistolophilia"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Epistolophilia: Writing the Life of Ona \u0160imait\u0117<\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Winner of the\u00a02013\u00a0Helen and Stan Vine\u00a0Canadian Jewish Book Award for Holocaust Literature<\/span><\/p>\n

Shorlisted for the 2012 Mavis Gallant Prize for Nonfiction<\/span><\/p>\n

Longlisted for the 2012 Charles Taylor Prize in Literary Nonfiction<\/span><\/p>\n

Named one of the Best Books of 2012 by Maisonneuve Magazine<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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Praise for\u00a0Epistolophilia<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

“\u0160ukys’s. . .meditations on the power of letters and writing make this a\u00a0powerful testament to the confluence of history and individual lives and passions.”<\/em> —\u00a0Publishers Weekly<\/a> (starred review)<\/p>\n

“<\/em>Epistolophilia is not a typical biography, and \u0160imait\u0117 was not a typical World War II hero. For readers looking for an unconventional account of the World War II and post-war eras, as well as those interested in women’s life writing,\u00a0Epistolophilia\u00a0is\u00a0a nuanced and compelling work.” <\/em>—\u00a0ForeWord<\/a> Reviews<\/p>\n

“\u0160ukys\u2019s great respect for her subject inspires respect for her own book. ‘When I read [the letters]’ \u0160ukys writes, ‘I feel as though she is speaking to me directly\u2026’ And that\u2019s also how readers of <\/em>Epistolophilia feel, as though \u0160ukys is personally telling us the story of this incredible, and incredibly important, woman over a cup of tea.” <\/em>— <\/em>Montreal Review of Books<\/a><\/p>\n

“\u0160ukys is to be commended for providing us with this testament and story of a\u00a0little-known hero.”<\/em> —\u00a0Baltimore Jewish Times<\/a><\/p>\n

“A startling paradox that while \u0160imait\u0117 died at 76 before completing her memoirs, \u0160ukys is able to capture \u0160imait\u0117\u2019s story while successfully writing an unexpected memoir of her own<\/em>.” — PLOP! Review<\/a><\/p>\n

“Rather than use chronology as a guide, she divides her book into nine parts, each a satellite in the orbit that was \u0160imait\u0117\u2019s world . . . .\u00a0The technique works incredibly well, providing a full and revealing portrait of a heroic, principled if sometimes fractious woman whose life was marked by hardship and disappointment, but who left behind an invaluable archive: her own.” — <\/em>The Montreal Gazette<\/a><\/p>\n

“\u0160ukys, in a true labor of love, rescues a remarkably brave woman from history\u2019s dustbin, and in the process complicates the narrative about Lithuania during the Holocaust and the postwar period.”<\/em> —\u00a0Women\u2019s Review of Books<\/a><\/p>\n

“This is\u00a0an intelligent, humane, and noble book\u00a0that rescues from\u00a0obscurity an intelligent, humane, and noble woman. It stands as a\u00a0testament to the power of reading, writing, compassion, and\u00a0extraordinary courage.”<\/em> — David Bezmozgis, author of\u00a0The Free World<\/em><\/p>\n

“This is an important new take on the legacy of the Holocaust.\u00a0Eloquent and elegantly written, it reads like a W.G. Sebald text but with a\u00a0voice profoundly its own.”<\/em> —\u00a0Laura Levitt Professor of Religion, Jewish Studies and Gender, Temple University<\/p>\n

“With this searching, nuanced biography, Julija \u0160ukys introduces the English-speaking world to a genuine heroine of the Holocaust, while at the same time raising vital questions about the role of trauma, poverty, and ill health on women\u2019s literary production.\u00a0Thoughtful, exhaustively researched, and deeply felt,\u00a0Epistolophilia\u00a0is an important book.”<\/em> — Susan Olding, author of\u00a0Pathologies: A Life in Essays<\/em><\/p>\n

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About\u00a0Epistolophilia<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The librarian walks the streets of her beloved Paris. An old lady with a limp and an accent, she is invisible to most. Certainly no one recognizes her as the warrior and revolutionary she was, when again and again she slipped into the Jewish ghetto of German-occupied Vilnius to carry food, clothes, medicine, money, and counterfeit documents to its prisoners. Often she left with letters to deliver, manuscripts to hide, and even sedated children swathed in sacks. In 1944 she was captured by the Gestapo, tortured for twelve days, and deported to Dachau.<\/p>\n

Through\u00a0Epistolophilia<\/em>, Julija \u0160ukys follows the letters and journals\u2014the \u201clife-writing\u201d\u2014of this woman, Ona \u0160imait\u0117 (1894\u20131970). A treasurer of words, \u0160imait\u0117 carefully collected, preserved, and archived the written record of her life, including thousands of letters, scores of diaries, articles, and press clippings. Journeying through these words, \u0160ukys negotiates with the ghost of \u0160imait\u0117, beckoning back to life this quiet and worldly heroine\u2014a giant of Holocaust history (one of Yad Vashem\u2019s honored \u201cRighteous among the Nations\u201d) and yet so little known. The result is at once a mediated self-portrait and a measured perspective on a remarkable life. It reveals the meaning of life-writing, how women write their lives publicly and privately, and how their words attach them\u2014and us\u2014to life.<\/p>\n

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Buy the Book<\/strong><\/p>\n

University of Nebraska Press<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Powell’s Books<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Indie Bound<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Amazon<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Barnes & Noble<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Chapters\u00a0Indigo<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

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