John Boyne defends work from criticism by Auschwitz memorial

After airing his worries about ‘Holocaust genre’ fiction, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas author has been accused of ‘perpetuating dangerous myths’ himself

The Auschwitz-Birkenau Holocaust memorial museum has said that John Boyne’s children’s novel The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas “should be avoided by anyone who studies or teaches the history of the Holocaust”, after the author criticised the spate of recent novels set in the concentration camp.

The museum made the comment after Boyne criticised the current ubiquity of novels with names such as The Tattooist of Auschwitz, The Saboteur of Auschwitz, The Librarian of Auschwitz and The Brothers of Auschwitz. Boyne had tweeted: “I can’t help but feel that by constantly using the same three words, & then inserting a noun, publishers & writers are effectively building a genre that sells well, when in reality the subject matter, & their titles, should be treated with a little more thought & consideration.”

Related: The Tattooist of Auschwitz attacked as inauthentic by camp memorial centre

Continue reading...