Author Language French Publisher Éditions du Seuil | Country France Genre Novel | |
Original title Le serment de Kolvillàg | ||
The Oath (original title, French: Le serment de Kolvillàg) is a novel by Elie Wiesel. It tells the story of Azriel, the only surviving Jewish member of the small (fictionally named) Hungarian town of Kolvillàg after a pogrom perpetrated by neighboring Christians. Azriel carries the secret of Kolvillàg's destruction within him, forbidden to share his experiences. However, when Azriel meets a young man on the brink of suicide fifty years later, he realizes that he must pass on his secret to save the young man's life - yet he is bound by his promise to the dead.
Le serment de Kolvillàg is a work told in fragments - the point of view changes from present-day Azriel, the Azriel of the past, the young man in the present, and the young man's past. It is unstructured to the point where it borders on Surrealism. Some of the themes of Le serment de Kolvillag include pogroms, death, old age, secrecy, silence, and modernity.