A Book That Was Lost: And Other Stories

By S.Y. Agnon

Book Overview

Many storytellers have arisen to tell the story of East European Jewry, but the achievement of S.Y. Agnon remains singular. His canvas is wider, his erudition vaster, his humor wittier, his irony subtler. Above all, like any great writer, his art transcends the limits of its ostensible subject. To be sure, Agnon's writing is inseparably entwined with the very particular culture of Polish Jewry and its continuation in the Land of Israel. At the same time, however, his art explores the universal questions that preoccupy great writing in all modern cultures: the fragmentary and fallen nature of human experience after the collapse of community and faith, and, as a counterbalance, the turn toward writing with its mythic possibilities and its linguistic and textual playfulness.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0805241205
• ISBN13: 9780805241204
• Release Date: April 1995
• Publisher: Schocken
• Length: 448 Pages
• Weight: 1.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.8" x 1.5" x 6.5"

Customer Reviews

A book that was Lost

This is a collection of short stories that bring life to a bygone time of Jewish life.

Excellent in Translation

I have read the English translation, and love it. Agnon's mystical surrealism is worthy of Garcia-Marquez. While being versed in Jewish traditions can be helpful, it is not necessary for appreciating this brilliant writer.

The hebrew Shakespear

Ye, I know it sounds over-bombastic. Still, I quite stand behind this. Agnon has the quality (like the bard) of writing one sentence or a few words within, that tell a whole story in a bang. Every now and again you stop over a phrase that seems obscure, you think a bit, and often enough, it's revelation. It causes you to regret all the previous, skipped, pharagraph that you only half fathomed.I must worn you though, that I can't recommend the english translation (not having read it translated).