The Patagonian Hare: A Memoir [Hardcover]

Praise for The Patagonian Hare

“His is an extraordinary life . . . It is a rumbustious, engaging, frustrating, joyous rampage through some of the most significant chapters of postwar history in the company of an unforgettable man.” —David Cesarani, Literary Review

“As the 21st century takes a new and frightening shape, it is well to remember the strange heroism of men like Lanzmann, who opposed the darkest forces of the 20th century with an unmitigated belief in freedom, and not just freedom of belief.” —Andrew Hussey, The Independent

“A work of art . . . [Lanzmann] has lived every moment the way one writes a story or directs a film: completely, intensely . . . [The Patagonian Hare is] a true literary and historic event.” —Le Monde

“Lanzmann reminds us in these pages that he is a tremendous writer.” —Marianne

“This book isn’t a compendium of memories . . . It’s a great, epic work, heartbreaking and full of enthusiasm. The writing dances, shudders, trembles and melts voluptuously. It has that quality of changing your life.” —Le Point

“Without a doubt, one of the masterpieces of world literature.” —Die Welt

“A great book.” —Joan de Sagarra, La Vanguardia

“This book is a masterpiece, both picaresque and serious, funny and tragic.” —Bernard-Henri Lévy, Le Point

“Instead of going to the beach, putting on a bathing suit and going swimming, or going to the movies, I stay in my room and read a book, and I swim in the sea of wisdom. Right now, I am reading a magnificent book by Claude Lanzmann . . . Reading [The Patagonian Hare] gives me the greatest pleasure in life.” —Shimon Peres, Israel Hayom

“A masterpiece of our time. The suggestive power of this evocation of the past century is without precedent.” —Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung

“We follow Lanzmann’s adventures as if they came from a novel by London, Hemingway or Kessel.” —Max Gallo, Le Figaro

“Half a century of fury, tears and hopes related by one of the most important witnesses of our time.” —L’Express

“Claude Lanzmann recounts our age with a vitality and virtuosity rarely seen.” —Le Magazine Littéraire

Claude Lanzmann is a French writer and the director of a number of films, including the nine-and-a-half-hour classic Shoah (1985), which was described by The Washington Post as “the film event of the century” and is regarded internationally as a historical and cinematic breakthrough. Lanzmann is chief editor of Les Temps Modernes, which was founded by Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir.