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The Impostor

JL;DR SUMMARY Matthew Fishbane reviews Javier Cercas's novel, "The Impostor: A True Story," which explores the life of Enric Marco, a Catalan who falsely claimed to be a survivor of Nazi camps. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

IdentitySpainHolocaustWorld War IiTruthNarrativeDeceptionHistorical MemoryEnric MarcoJavier Cercas

Places mentioned

Catalonia, Spain
"The eponymous leading role is a Catalonian named Enric Marco."
Germany
"Hitlers Germany and a survivor of the Nazi camps he had been president of the Amical de Mauthausen."
Spain
"he had addressed the Spanish parliament on behalf of his supposed companions in misfortune."
Paris, Île-de-France, France
"a Hungarian Jew who waited tables at a brasserie in Paris after WWII."
United Kingdom
"a great scandal across the Western world: Spains Concentration Camp Hero Is Exposed as a Fraud, crowed The Guardian."
United States
"Americans will be tempted to read into The Impostor a commentary on the apotheosis of fabricators."

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Cairo Item ID 84944
Cairo Source ID 10
Retrieved 2026-06-16 05:31:45 UTC
Curated 2026-06-16 08:31:17 UTC