Lore Segal, the celebrated Austrian-American author and translator renowned for her insightful and poignant explorations of displacement, passed away on Monday at the age of 96. Her literary legacy, marked by wit and a deep understanding of the Jewish refugee and immigrant experience, left an enduring impact on the world of literature.
Segal’s childhood was shaped by the harrowing reality of Nazi persecution. Born Lore Groszmann in 1928, she enjoyed a comfortable upbringing in a prosperous Vienna neighborhood. However, the Nazi annexation of Austria in 1938 forced her family to make a heart-wrenching decision: sending young Lore on the Kindertransport to London to escape the rising tide of antisemitism. This pivotal moment, documented in Mark Jonathan Harris’ Academy Award-winning documentary, would forever shape her life and her writing.
In London, Segal experienced the trauma of separation from her family and the uncertainty of life in a foreign land. She found solace in writing, using her pen to express her anxieties and hopes. Her letters to British authorities, filled with a powerful plea for her parents’ safe passage, ultimately led to their reunification in London. The family later emigrated to the United States, where Segal continued to refine her craft, crafting a diverse body of work that included novels, short stories, essays, and children’s books. Her writing became a vehicle for exploring her own journey, weaving memory and imagination into narratives that resonated with readers worldwide.
Segal’s literary prowess was recognized with prestigious accolades. Her novel “Shakespeare’s Kitchen,” a satirical examination of academic life, earned her a Pulitzer Prize nomination in 2008. In 2023, she was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters, cementing her place as a prominent figure in contemporary literature.
Segal’s most celebrated works, “Other People’s Houses” and “Her First American,” delve deeply into her personal experiences, offering readers a glimpse into the challenges and triumphs of navigating a new world. “Other People’s Houses,” originally serialized in The New Yorker, paints a vivid picture of her childhood in Austria, her experiences in foster care in London during World War II, and her eventual arrival in New York. Through her evocative prose, she captures the transformative power of the city, illustrating how a once-foreign landscape gradually becomes home. “Her First American” further explores her early experiences in the United States, while her comic novella “Lucinella” draws inspiration from her time at the Yaddo artist retreat in upstate New York during the 1970s.
A passionate educator, Segal dedicated her time to teaching at prestigious institutions such as Columbia University and Princeton. Her love for literature and her sharp wit extended beyond her fictional work, finding expression in her essays and in her role as a translator. She translated both the Bible and Grimms’ fairy tales, the latter featuring illustrations by her friend Maurice Sendak.
In 2019, Segal compiled her fiction and nonfiction in the anthology “The Journal I Did Not Keep,” offering a poignant reflection on the complexities of memory and storytelling. She acknowledged the inherent imperfection of attempting to recapture the past, writing, “I believe that the act of remembering and telling the story of what we remember will always be to some extent fatal to the thing remembered. So what really happened?”
Lore Segal’s life and work served as a testament to the power of words to illuminate the human experience. Her stories, born from both joy and sorrow, resonated with readers of all backgrounds, offering a powerful exploration of displacement, resilience, and the enduring search for belonging. Her legacy as a literary icon and a passionate advocate for the human spirit will continue to inspire generations to come.
