Articles from, And There Was Light: Autobiography of Jacques Lusseyran, Blind Hero of the French Resistance
The works of Jacques Lusseyran are some of the most eloquently beautiful, insightful, soul-stirring contributions to literature that I, Daniel Kish, have ever encountered. This is some of the most beautiful, inspiring, and engaging articulation of what it was like for a young boy to go blind, and what it was like to adapt to blindness, especially at a time and in a culture which was even more restrictive. His writings are passionate, yet thoughtful, heart-rending yet up-lifting.
In the last sentence of his epilogue for "AND THERE WAS LIGHT" he writes about two truths that he has discovered:
"The first of these is that joy does not come from outside, for whatever happens to us is within. The second truth is that light does not come from without. Light is in us, even if we have no eyes."
I cannot recommend these sublime works enough.
Revelation of Light
Lusseyran was one of a handful of prisoners to survive Buchenwald. He was a brilliant writer and philosopher, but after the war he was unable to find employment in France because, unbelievably, the laws passed against people with disabilities during the Vichy government days were still on the books! So, Lusseyran went to the USA and taught literature at the University level.
The Invalids' Block
by Jacques Lusseyran - 1998 (latest edition)Jacques Lusseyran was one of the very few courageous young French heros to survive the horrors of Buchenwald. An inspiring true story.
"And There Was Light" is the little-known but thoroughly luminous autobiography of Jacques Lusseyran, a blind man who discovered the gift of inner sight after losing his vision in a childhood accident--and then put his gift to use in the struggle against Nazism. ... His description of what it is like to "see" as a blind man is fascinating and inspiring; his account of Buchenwald, where he was condemned to the living hell of the 'Invalids' Barracks,' is one of the most anguishing fragments of Holocaust testimony that I have ever encountered."
Review by Jonathan Kirsch
Purchase, Against the Pollution of the I: Selected Writings of Jacques Lusseyran
This inspiring volume presents six little-known essays by the blind French author and Resistance leader Jacques Lusseyran, gathered together for the first time in English. Two of the essays delve more deeply into the human drama and heroism of his interment in a Nazi prison camp at Buchenwald, which Lusseyran described so movingly in his autobiography "And There Was Light." Others explore the mystery and wonder of the world that his remarkable inner vision revealed, and offer a comparison of sight both with and without eyes.
Penetrating Perspectives on Jacques Lusseyran
Reflections on Light
by Geoff OlsonAn engagingly different way of looking at the world, in terms of light and life, science and myth, objective and subjective, funny and not so funny. He articulates the interconnectedness of the spiritual, scientific, psychological, and philosophical significance of light. Very intriguing! Includes reflections on the exquisite blind French author, Jacques Lusseyran, who is showcased on our What Blind People Say About Blindness page.
None So Blind
Jeff's Jottings - January 18, 2015by Rev. Jeffrey Spencer
A beautiful perspective about recognizing and over-coming spiritual blindness, including accounts of Jacques Lusseyran from Barbara Brown's book, "Learning to Walk in the Dark", and Daniel Kish from the NPR Bat Man episodes.