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Spring 1991 • Vol. XIII No. 2 • Fiction |

Colette

By Arnošt Lustig, translated by Tim Whipple

From the Czech. 

Colette of Antwerp’s story is not easy to tell. It’s full of everything that accompanies beauty; but as in any story about an unusually beautiful woman, some of it is less than lovely. And what happened to so many women in the camps during World War II was exceptional, even among the other exceptions.

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Arnošt Lustig, novelist, short-story writer, and screenwriter, left Prague during the Soviet invasion of 1968 and now teaches at American University in Washington, D.C. His novels include Dita Saxova, The Unloved: From the Diary of Perla S., and A Prayer for Katerina Horovitzova; his collections of short stories include Indecent Dreams, Diamonds of the Night, and Street of Lost Brothers. Among his films are Dita Saxova' and Diamonds of the Night. Almost all of Lustig's literary and film work explores the theme of the Holocaust and his experiences during the war. Arnošt Lustig's awards include a National Book Award nomination for A Prayer of Katerina Horovitzova, two Jewish National Book Awards, an Emmy for a television screenplay, and the Karel Capek Prize of the Czech Pen Club.

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