Description
Book SynopsisS.Y. Agnon was the greatest Hebrew writer of the twentieth century, and the only Hebrew writer to receive the Nobel Prize for literature. He devoted the last years of his life to writing a massive cycle of stories about Buczacz, the Galician town (now in Ukraine) in which he grew up. Yet when these stories were collected and published three years after Agnon''s death, few took notice. Years passed before the brilliance and audacity of Agnon''s late project could be appreciated.
The Parable and Its Lesson is one of the major stories from this work. Set shortly after the massacres of hundreds of Jewish communities in the Ukraine in 1648, it tells the tale of a journey into the Netherworld taken by a rabbi and his young assistant. What the rabbi finds in his infernal journey is a series of troubling theological contradictions that bear on divine justice. Agnon''s story gives us a fascinating window onto a community in the throes of mourning its losses and reconstituting i
Trade Review
"James Diamond's fluid translation and helpful comments enable English speakers to enjoy and experience Agnon at his best. Alan Mints with his introduction and illuminating Essay on The Parable and Its Lesson explains many hidden details and a connection to the Holocaust. The Parable and Its Lesson is a most welcome addition to all literature lovers. It should be part of all academic libraries, as well as public libraries, and high school collections."—Nira G. Wolfe, Association of Jewish Libraries
"Agnon is perhaps the greatest brooding presence in Israel's angst-filled literary stable, and richly deserves first-rate translation. The pairing of Mintz and Diamond is splendid, and they've managed to open up Agnon to a new generation of readers."—Steven Zipperstein, Daniel E. Koshland Professor in Jewish Culture and History, Stanford University
"The time has finally come to introduce readers, scholars, and students to the work of 'late Agnon,' which is both unfamiliar and misunderstood. One could not hope for a better introduction than this volume. It will make one of Agnon's unknown masterpieces accessible to readers, and will expand our knowledge and understanding both of Agnon's writing and of literary responses to the Holocaust."—Shachar Pinsker, Associate Professor of Hebrew Literature and Culture, University of Michigan
"[A] must-have for those interested in Hebrew literature, Agnon, Holocaust literature, and Jewish cultural history. One wants now to read the other 149 stories. Mintz and Diamond accomplished their purpose."—Katherine Brown Downey, Religious Studies Review
