SOURCE: Kellman, Steven G. “Louis Begley Joins the Firm.” Hollins Critic 36, no. 3 (June 1999): 1-11.

In the following essay, Kellman explores the lies and pretense that Begley's protagonists use to cover their respective pasts and to rewrite their respective futures.

For nine-year-old Maciek [in Wartime Lies], fluency in German is no academic matter. As a fugitive Galician Jew during the Nazi occupation of Poland, he does not attend school, but language offers camouflage against those intent on exterminating all but Aryans. So, while careful to keep his identifying circumcision concealed from prying eyes, the boy masters the tongue of his tormentor by mimicking German broadcasts. He also ingratiates himself with a Gentile landlady, the widow of a Belgian engineer, by acquiescing in her desire to teach him French. However, perfect command of Polish is also crucial to eluding blackmailers who might threaten to betray a Jewish suspect to the...