A small town in southern Poland is the scene of this bittersweet romance set at the turn of the century. Celebrated Israeli novelist S.Y. Agnon draws on techniques perfected by Gustave Flaubert and Thomas Mann to contrast the hero's romantic longings with the interest of bourgeois society."--Back cover.
Manfred Herbst, a middle-aged professor at the Hebrew University, is bored. He is bored with his studies, with the petty squabbles of his academic colleagues, and with his endlessly understanding wife, Henrietta. He spends his days - and often his nights - prowling the streets and alleys of Jerusalem searching for Shira, the beguiling nurse he met at a hospital years ago. Against the backdrop of 1930s Jerusalem - a world on the brink of war - Herbst wages his own war against the encroachment of age as he plunges deeper into fantasies sparked by the free-spirited Shira. Shira, the last novel of Hebrew writer and 1966 Nobel Laureate S.Y. Agnon, was unfinished at the time of his death in 1970. Agnon wrote two very different endings for this novel, both of which are included here, along with an afterword by Robert Alter.
In the Heart of the Seas follows Hananiah, along with many rabbis and their wives, on a spiritual journey to Palestine. The trip is a test of courage and mirrors the daily trials and experiences of modern existence, yet yields renewed faith.
Hailed as one of Agnon’s most significant works, A Guest for the Night depicts Jewish life in Eastern Europe after World War I. A man journeys from Israel to his hometown in Europe, saddened to find so many friends taken by war, pogrom, or disease. In this vanishing world of traditional values, he confronts the loss of faith and trust of a younger generation. This 1939 novel reveals Agnon’s vision of his people’s past, tragic present, and hope for the future. Cited by National Yiddish Book Center as one of "The Greatest Works of Modern Jewish Literature" The Wisconsin edition is not for sale in the Republic of Ireland, South Africa, or the traditional British Commonwealth (excluding Canada.)
Noble Laureate S. Y. Agnon brings together what has always been at the heart of Jewish religious consciousness: the Sinai event, the Revelation--as both memory and continuously renewed experience.
Two tales of love. "Betrothed" portrays a teacher whose love for the sea leads him to the town of Jaffa. Though many pursue him, Rechnitz eschews romantic love for his studies until he can no longer resist. "Edo and Enam" is set after World War II in Jerusalem and considers how love evolves throughout the course of a marriage.
The story of a poor but devout Galician Jew, Rob Yudel, who wanders the countryside with his companion, Nuta, during the early 19th century, in search of bridegrooms for his three daughters.
Appearing in English translation for the first time, the Nobel Laureate's novel follows an idealistic man as he emigrates to Palestine in the early part of the century, determined to revive Hebrew culture and build a homeland for Jews.
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