GIDEON TELPAZ
263
GT:
Initiation ceremonies, especially as demonstrated by primitive
rites, are associated with intimations of death, whether real or
symbolic. Could the deaths of the two lovers, Sophie and Nathan,
be seen as symbols of Stingo's initiation?
WS: Sophie's Choice
is Stingo's tale. This is why Stingo is so utterly
essential to the whole story.
If
I had told it any other way the book
would not have made any ripples at all.
It
had to be told through
the eyes of this young man - this young American - and this is
what I think Wiesel totally ignores, or chooses to ignore. Perhaps
it's a story not so much of Auschwitz but of discovering evil. It's a
time-honored technique to have the young man revealed through
a reminiscence by the older man of his youthful experience . This
was a measure of my distance from Auschwitz. Had I gotten any
closer, even if I had tried to tell it totally from Sophie's point of
view, it would have lacked resonance and would have had no con–
viction whatsoever.
GT:
One last question . Why should Auschwitz figure at all in
Stingo's rite of passage?
WS:
Because Stingo the elder, I, the alter ego, felt an absolute fas–
cination with Auschwitz. When I conceived the book, it was with–
out knowing exactly where I was headed, but I wanted desperately
to deal with Auschwitz, and I realized the only way I could do it
was to take this dewy-eyed young boy and expose him to the
mysteries as revealed through Sophie.
GT:
When you look back at it, do you think there is a mystery left
untold about Auschwitz?
WS:
I did not in any sense claim to have resolved the mystery. In
fact, at the end of the book, I say that point-blank: no one will
ever understand Auschwitz. But I also said that what I hoped to
demonstrate through Sophie's life and her death was how absolute
evil has never, will never, vanish from the world.
