Description
Book SynopsisWelcome to Brighton Beach of the 1930s and early '40s as filtered through Simon Sloan, from youth to would-be artist-as-a-young-man at Brooklyn College to the eve of his induction into the army. Wallace Markfield perfectly captures this Jewish neighborhood--its speech, its people, its unique zaniness.But like any masterpiece--Joyce's "Dubliners" comes readily to mind--"Teitlebaum's Window "both survives and expands upon its time and place. While remaining rooted in the specifics of its own world, thirty-seven years after first being published it teems with Markfield's inventiveness, hilarity, and singular voice.
Trade Review"Mr. Markfield is a parodist, a relentless jokesmith, a gifted improviser in the Nichols and May tradition." -- Alfred Kazin, New York Times Book Review "So full is the book with the feel of the times, it would seem that Mr. Markfield, like Joyce, hoped that if all other records disappeared, Brighton Beach could be reconstructed from these pages... It's all great fun, done with much verve and high spirits, a fictional romp during which the author enjoyed himself thoroughly and the reader will too." -- Thomas Lask, New York Times "Teitlebaum's Window is a series of brilliant and often brilliantly sustained gags, takeoffs, and blackouts on daily American life in the American Diaspora during the Great Depression. The relish with which it exploits comic potentialities recalls Isaac Babel." -- Marvin Mudrick, Hudson Review
