Using a sociohistorical perspective, this work argues that Franz Kafkas parable, The Vulture, specifically depicts the plight of victimized European Jews as they encountered acts of anti-Semitism early in the twentieth century. Kafkas parable demonstrates that it would only be through adhering to a philosophy of cultural Zionism that European Jewry might ultimately survive the brutalities of anti-Semitic behavior.
Sports, Games, and Gambling in the Aztec World consists of a series of original essays written by Professor Wasserman over a twenty-year period. These essays review and discuss the psychological dynamics involved in the three major Aztec sports and games: patolli (the dice game), tlachtli (the ball game), and Volador (the game of vertigo). In addition, as part of the collection, there is a creative piece showing that poetry, although not considered a game or sport, was viewed by an honored king in the Aztec worldNezahualcoyotl or Hungry Coyoteas a human gamble with death itself.
This work, through poetic renderings, examines how Chinese philosophy influenced the writings of Franz Kafka, Rainer Maria Rilke, and Arno Nadel. The connection for Kafka came through Confucianism, while for Rilke, the major tie-in was Zen Buddhism, and for Nadel, the primary influence was Taoism. Even though the writings of Kafka and Rilke are generally well-known to the English-reading public, this is the first time that selections from Nadels German poetry have been translated into English.
Sigmund Freud viewed the coping strategy of identification as both an expansion of the verb to identify, as well as a validation of the concept to identify with. This book shows how the Aztec emperor Montezuma and the noted Argentine writer Julio Cortzar each, respectively, used the process of identification in a Freudian manner. In the case of Montezuma, it is argued that he identified the Spanish conquistador Hernn Corts as the Aztec god Tezcatlipoca (Smoking Mirror), while for Cortzar, it is demonstrated that he identified with a Moteca Indian from the Aztec world, who was about to be sacrificed.
In this work, the author makes it a point to try to connect meaningfully and purposefully with the otherwhether that other is a Yiddish jazz poet, a Vietnamese poet-educator, or an anonymous Aztec singer of songs. Since poetry is a genre with which the author feels quite comfortable, he deliberately uses translated verse as a means of connecting with each of the poets from the three different cultures mentioned above.
In Japan, Thomas Wolfe’s long narrative novels frequently inspired his readers to write a great number of haiku poems. However, Martin Wasserman, this book’s author, discovered that it was not in Wolfe’s novels but in his short stories where one could find endless inspiration. Moreover, in Professor Wasserman’s case, it was not the writing of haiku that eventually resulted from the perusing of Wolfe’s shorter works but a different type of three-line poem known as the tristich. Fortunately, as the late Greek poet Yannis Ritsos pointed out, tristichs, just like haikus, are capable of delivering sweet and poignant little pictures that often stay with the reader over a lifetime.
Since Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926) is the most frequently translated poet of the twentieth century, Professor Wasserman decided to adopt a new “conceptual” approach in order to have an even greater appreciation of the author’s work. He pictured Rilke, who was a strong admirer of Buddhism, walking into a telegraph office and sending Zen-like poems to his many friends, based upon segments from his personal writings. This imagined experience was able to show in a markedly different way both the wisdom and the depth of Rilke’s beliefs that are found in most of his poetic offerings.
Martin Buber, during his lifetime, often asserted that he had no doctrine to teach but likened his efforts to taking persons to a window and asking them to look outside, both broadly and deeply, so that they might again discover what they had once intuitively known about the mysterious world outside but had long since forgotten. It was by combining this Buberian emphasis on a sense of wonder with an equally strong desire on the part of Buber that some wisdom should be acquired from his writings which ultimately gave me a suitable framework for putting down on paper the collection of pentastichs that now follows.
In this work, the author shows that composing modern English tanka is almost like writing the material that one would find in a diary, for not only do the author’s tanka poems focus on love and nature but they also concentrate on philosophical speculations, as well as the expression of intense emotional states like anger, sadness, and joy. Additionally, the author’s writings demonstrate that in an English-language tanka, as compared to an English haiku, there is a greater use of both a strongly symbolic language and the cleverly placed metaphoric phrase. Finally, this work shows that the composing of English tanka can very much appeal to an attentive reader’s inherent sense of humor.
This work represents Professor Wasserman’s valuable contribution to the legacies of both August Stramm and Maria Berl-Lee. Just because they are no longer alive it does not mean that a vital part of their lives—namely, their writings—should not be passed on in some form, thereby giving successive generations of readers an opportunity to appreciate their stirring poetry. And certainly the poems of both Stramm and Berl-Lee deserve to be appreciated for they provide all readers with some extremely sobering lessons. First, there are the painful poetic reminders from Stramm concerning the dire consequences of World War One; and then we read about the unforgettable horrors and awful results of the Anschluss made quite clear by Berl-Lee’s poetic observations.
The Basque philosopher Miguel de Unamuno (1864-1936) was viewed by his peers as being one of the most significant writers and thinkers of the twentieth-century. As an author, Unamuno worked in all of the major literary genres: essays, novels, poetry and plays. However, according to the Mexican novelist and essayist, Carlos Fuentes, it was the philosophical essay which was his real forte. Yet Unamuno, towards the end of his life, provided a different—though not necessarily contradictory—perspective on his work. When Unamuno was asked to define himself, he stated that in all of his writings he should be considered “nothing but a poet.” Taking each of these statements both literally and seriously, what Professor Wasserman attempted to do in this work was to integrate the two assertions. He accomplished this task by first translating passages in Unamuno’s essays from Spanish to English and then by converting the prose translations into lines of poetry, thereby providing the reader with a lyrical and engaging picture of Unamuno’s philosophy of life.
There are two major factors that helped Ludwig Feuerbach (1804–1872) earn a great deal of respect from both his philosophy colleagues and the lay readers of his books. First, his anthropological interest in studying “the absolute and exalted” compelled Feuerbach to bring these very abstract and complex subjects back down to earth. Second, with his focus directed toward reason, cooperation, and mutual understanding, Feuerbach was determined to show that a relationship between the self and others (or as he called it, “I and thou”) is more essential and rewarding than any kind of faith-based desire for a supernatural communion. In this latest book by Professor Wasserman, he devotes himself to translating many of Feuerbach’s insightful epigrammatic poems, which appear to specifically coincide with the two special themes that are mentioned above.
An epigrammatic poem is a short, pithy piece of verse which through humor, or by making a blatant statement, expresses a single thought or observation. In this present collection, Professor Wasserman chooses to write his original epigrammatic verses in such a way that each poem sounds like the spoken English heard in everyday conversations. He does so because he believes that if each poem on the page represents a particular verbal remark, then the reader will have no choice but to take on the dual roles of both reader and listener. Professor Wasserman shows us through his poems that the adoption of dual roles is really an advantageous choice for any individual wanting to discover the true wisdom contained in epigrammatic poetry.
During the early twentieth century, one of the most notable travel writers in Central Europe was Richard Katz. After obtaining a job with the Ullstein Publishing House, Katz convinced his superiors to allow him to start his own newsletter called the “Green Post,” which would print travel stories about his adventures while roaming around the world. This newsletter eventually became so successful that it had over a million subscribers. Professor Wasserman’s current book of German to English translations now offers today’s English reader a sample of various Richard Katz travel pieces that were so greatly enjoyed by German readers almost one hundred years ago.
An epigrammatic poem is a short, pithy piece of verse which through humor, or by making a blatant statement, expresses a single thought or observation. In this present collection, Professor Wasserman chooses to write his original epigrammatic verses in such a way that each poem sounds like the spoken English heard in everyday conversations. He does so because he believes that if each poem on the page represents a particular verbal remark, then the reader will have no choice but to take on the dual roles of both reader and listener. Professor Wasserman shows us through his poems that the adoption of dual roles is really an advantageous choice for any individual wanting to discover the true wisdom contained in epigrammatic poetry.
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