Australian writer Markus Zusak: biography and work

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

In the fall of 2013, a military film called "The Book Thief" was released on cinema screens. The film is an adaptation of the 2005 novel of the same name. Its author is the Australian writer Markus Zuzak (another version of the transliteration of the surname into Russian is Zusak). In addition to The Book Thief, he has written five other novels.

Biography of Markus Zuzak

The future writer was born on June 23, 1975 in Sydney, Australia's largest city. His parents, Helmut and Lisa, are immigrants from Austria. The family had three more children: one boy and two girls. Markus is the youngest child.

Zuzak graduated from Engandina High School and graduated from the University of Sydney. After graduating from university, he worked for a while at a school where he taught English.

In his interviews, Markus Zuzak often mentions that in his childhood he heard many stories about the horrors of World War II, Nazi Germany,persecution of the Jews. This was told to him by his mother, who at that time lived in the German city of Munich and became a direct witness to the events. It was these stories, as the writer notes, that later inspired Markus Zuzak to create his most popular novel, The Book Thief.

Zuzak began to write at a young age, when he was about 16 years old. However, the year 1999 can be considered the immediate beginning of a literary career - it was then that the first publication of the novel "Undersand" took place.

Immediately after his debut, Markus Zuzak was recognized as one of Australia's most promising young songwriters. The next work, called "Against Reuben Wolf", which is a logical continuation of the first novel, was published in 2001.

Markus Zuzak's books quickly gained reader success and positive reviews from critics. The writer has repeatedly won various literary awards.

Currently 6 novels are authored by Markus Zuzak. It is known that he is working on the next work, the publication of which is officially scheduled for October 2018.

Private life

The writer is married to a woman named Mika. The couple have two children: a boy and a girl. The family lives in Australia, in Zuzak's hometown of Sydney.

Bibliography. The Book Thief

The novel was written and published in 2005. First published in Russian in 2009 by the Eksmo publishing house.

The action begins in non-existent little Germantown of Molching in 1939 and spans six years of events.

The main character is a girl named Liesel Meminger, who is 9 years old at the beginning of the novel. However, the narration is conducted on behalf of another character - Death. This is the most mysterious hero of the work: the image of Death is very vague, but plays an important role in the story.

Liesel's father is a communist missing in action. The mother, unable to care for the girl and her brother, makes the difficult decision to give the children to a foster family. But the boy does not live to see his new parents, having died from an illness on the way to Molching. This leaves a deep imprint on Liesel.

As the story progresses, the main character also grows and changes, makes friends, finds mutual understanding with foster parents.

The entire novel is permeated with the theme of World War II. The new Liesel family does not support Hitler's ideology, however, and cannot clearly express their position.

The screen adaptation of The Book Thief by Markus Zuzak received the slogan "Courage without further ado", which fully reflects the essence of the work.

The Wolf Brothers Trilogy

Zuzak's debut novel Undersand was the first book in the Wolf Brothers series, which also included Against Reuben Wolf and When Dogs Cry. The trilogy tells about the lives of people confronting difficult circumstances and themselves.

At the center of the plot are three main characters: the brothers Steven, Reuben and Cameron Wolf. Their life in the slums of Sydney is hardly possiblecalled happy and prosperous: the father was injured, because of which he lost his job, and the mother is forced to provide for the whole family alone. The money she receives is barely enough to even cover the bare necessities.

So when the three brothers get a chance to make money, they quickly agree. Now young men participate in illegal boxing fights. Thanks to his rich experience in school fights, Ruben - the youngest of the brothers - becomes the most successful. Steven and Cameron lose more often, but continue to enter the ring.

Sometimes they have to fight each other, but that doesn't make the brothers enemies. The Wolves are still close.

I am the Messenger

Markus Zuzak's novel “I am the Messenger” was written in 2002 and published in Russia in 2012 as part of the series “Intellectual Bestseller. The whole world is reading.”

The main character is a young man named Ed Kennedy. His life is rather ordinary: a job as a taxi driver in a small town, frequent failures in gambling and in his personal life.

It would seem that it is almost impossible to break out of such a routine. But one day in the life of Ed, an extraordinary event occurs - being at the right time in the right place, he heroically thwarts a bank robbery.

From now on, the former taxi driver becomes the so-called Messenger. Now Ed's mission is to perform various tasks, helping people. But the main character still has many questions: why him? Who chose him to be the Messenger and why?

Prizes and awardswriter

In 2006, Markus Zusak was awarded the Michael L. Prince Literature Award for I Am the Messenger. The American Library Association recognized the novel as "the best book written for teenagers."

The following year, the writer again won this award for his novel The Book Thief. In addition, the book won two more awards - the Kathleen Mitchell Award and the National Jewish Literary Award. It was also on the New York Times bestseller list for over 230 weeks.

In 2014, Marcus Zuzak was awarded the Margaret Edwards Award for his contribution to teen literature. In total, the writer is the winner of more than 10 awards.

Reviews from readers and critics

Zuzak was a successful writer even before the film adaptation of his novel, but after the world premiere of The Book Thief, more people became interested in his work.

The New York Times called The Book Thief a book that "will be lauded for its audacity". USA Today prophesied that the novel would surely become a classic.

The Wolf Brothers Trilogy is also a hit with both readers and critics. Some see the series as similar to the writer's most popular novel, while others, on the contrary, are surprised at the colossal difference between these works - in the manner of narration, ideas and message.

The work of Markus Zuzak is mainly positioned as literature for teenagers. It is to them that heroes of the same age will be closest, and the thoughts and actions of the characters will be clear.