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Why a little-known Jewish writer from Belgium went viral — and why you should read her too

JL;DR SUMMARY Jacqueline Harpman, a Holocaust survivor and Belgian author, has gained posthumous fame as her novels garnered viral attention on TikTok. 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

Holocaust SurvivorJewish IdentityGender IdentityTiktokTranslationVirginia Woolf20th Century AuthorsDystopian FictionJacqueline HarpmanBelgian Literature

Places mentioned

Brussels, Belgium
"Harpman was born in 1929 in Belgium to Jeanne Honorez and Andries Harpman, who was Jewish."
Brooklyn, New York, United States
"Lauren Hakimi is a journalist based in Brooklyn, New York."

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Cairo Item ID 58681
Cairo Source ID 35
Retrieved 2025-08-06 05:30:52 UTC
Curated 2025-08-06 08:31:00 UTC