Search results for ""Author Nicholas de Lange""

Book SynopsisIn this book contemporary Judaism is presented in all its rich diversity, including both traditional and modern theologies as well as secular forms of Jewish identity. While the focus of the book is on developments that have taken place in the past two hundred years, they are set against a historical background, going back to the Bible. Beginning with a description of the Jewish people as it exists in today's world, it studies the unique concept of Jewish peoplehood and its survival over the centuries in the face of many challenges. An account of the key texts is followed by studies of the different interpretations of the religion, and the ways that life is lived out both in the home and in the community. Jewish theology is described both historically and in terms of contemporary issues. An important and distinctive section considers the goals of Jewish life and faith.Trade ReviewPraise for the first edition: 'Nicholas de Lange has produced an excellent introduction to Judaism, which will doubtless become a standard textbook for undergraduate students. It is not an easy task to write a popular work, which does not err on the side of superficiality, but de Lange has written a lucid and impressive work. This book is one of the best short one volume works on the subject of Judaism to the knowledge of this reviewer.' CCJJ'… this book is invaluable.' The Times Literary Supplement'Written with clarity and in a very pleasing style.' Expository Times'De Lange has written this remarkably comprehensive analysis of Jews and Judaism. … De Lange has clearly satisfied his objective, offering an overall introduction to Judaism that will be useful to both Jewish and non-Jewish readers.' Publishers Weekly'… a valuable reference … but it is more than that, it provides stimulating introduction to a major world culture.' The Jerusalem Post'… this volume provides a solid foundation for the study of contemporary Judaism. Recommended for public and undergraduate libraries.' Naomi E. Hafter, Library Journal'For intelligent readers … who wish to know how Jews variously perceive and practise their Judaism this book is invaluable.' Louis Jacobs, The Times Literary Supplement'It speaks about Judaism in interesting, if in somewhat broad strokes, always emphasizing the aspects of Judaism that impact contemporary world Jewry.' The Clergy Journal'It manages as well to provide an excellent sense of the intertwined historical development of the Jews and their religious civilization … De Lange brings comprehensive learning to his task, a love of clear language, and a scrupulous fairness to all elements of the contemporary Jewish scene. I recommend the work for introductory college courses or for adult education settings.' Religious Studies ReviewTable of ContentsList of tables; List of illustrations; Preface; Chronology; Map of the Jewish world in 1930; Map of the Jewish world in the 2000s; 1. The Jews in the world; 2. The Jewish people and its past; 3. Jewish books; 4. The Jewish religion; 5. The family; 6. The community; 7. God and the Jewish people; 8. Objectives; 9. Judaism and the future; Glossary; Further reading; Index.

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Book SynopsisAn unnamed author waits in a bar in Tel Aviv on a stifling hot night. He is there to give a reading of his work but as he sits, bored, he begins to conjure up the life stories of the people he meets. Later, when the reading is done he asks a woman for a drink. She declines and the author walks away, only to climb the steps to her flat, later that night. Or does he? In Amos Oz''s beguiling, intriguing story the reader never really knows where reality ends and invention begins...Trade ReviewA master class in interlocking character sketches, and a fable on the themes of sex, death and writing pitched somewhere between the fictional universes of JM Coetzee and Milan Kundera * Guardian *Delightful...a meditation, on the art of writing, the relationship between literature and life, between life and death...the work of a master. A book you are likely to return to * Scotsman *Oz writes with fluency and a sly humour * Daily Mail *A playful and meditative examination of old age, literary posterity and the juxtaposition between literature and real life * Metro *Beautifully balanced between humour and sorrow * Literary Review *

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Book SynopsisThis illustrated 2002 introduction to Hebrew manuscript culture encompasses all aspects of Hebrew manuscripts - textual, codicological and palaeographical - combining different disciplines to give an all-embracing view of the subject. A description of the history of texts in Hebrew reveals the range and variety of texts - many of which have never been printed.Trade Review'From the mundane to the sublime - there is something for everyone … in these well-illustrated pages … an elegantly produced and superb introduction to the study of Hebrew manuscripts, their scribes, and their contents that will enlighten students and scholars alike … a book written by a master of the material with a sensitive eye and a sharp reed … a tribute to the book making craft and Cambridge University Press should be praised for its aesthetic production.' The Jewish Studies Newsletter'Hebrew Manuscripts of the Middle Ages covers all aspects of the subject.' Geoffrey Khan, The Times Literary Supplement'Any medievalist will find it well worth reading … If widely read in medieval studies circles, this book will contribute to a lessening of the marginality of Jews to the study of medieval culture as a whole.' Ira Robinson, Bryn Mawr Review'Sirat's work is clear and direct, combining a fresh, approachable body-text with full scholarly footnotes … an elegant, eloquent key text in this as yet under-explored field.' Jewish Culture and History'Thanks to Sirat's profound erudition and rich experience in dealing with Hebrew manuscripts, her new book offers a treasury of information … this comprehensive introduction and useful manual is highly recommended.' European Association for Jewish Studies'… an authoritative introduction … we are constantly reminded throughout this book of the many common characteristics shared by Hebrew book production and those of the surrounding culture, be this Muslim or Christian European. This book therefore has an application wider than an introduction to only Hebrew manuscripts. The book is beautifully produced … We congratulate Cambridge University Press on this handsome book. CUP has justly acquired a fine reputation for Hebrew bibliographical studies, being the publisher of the prestige series University of Cambridge Oriental Publications …'. Novum Testamentum'C. Sirat's Hebrew Manuscripts of the Middle Ages is a long-awaited English introduction to the study of Medieval manuscripts in Hebrew script … a mature and thoroughly researched account of the unique cultural and intellectual enterprise of manuscript making, illustrated by highly relevant and striking examples of individual books and scribes from different periods and parts of the Medieval world … Hebrew Manuscripts of the Middle Ages is an important, full and fascinating introduction to the study of Hebrew book-making in the Middle Ages, and it can be recommended to students, scholars and all those interested in Hebrew manuscripts, as well as in Jewish literature and intellectual history in general.' Journal of Jewish StudiesTable of ContentsIntroduction; Part I. Texts: 1. Before the Middle Ages; 2. The Middle Ages; Part II. Books: 3. Codicology; 4. Writing: calligraphic and personal subjects; 5. The scribe; Appendix. Abbreviations, acrostics and the meaning of the Hebrew letters; Part III. The History of Books and Texts: 6. The life and death of manuscripts; 7. Libraries; 8. Questions of method: codicology and palaeography; 9. Texts, copies and text-editions; 10. Judgement on readings and the edition of texts; Part IV. Some Manuscripts: 11. Ten manuscripts: pictures and detailed descriptions.

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Book SynopsisThe Israeli master’s exceptional final novelSHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER INTERNATIONAL PRIZE 2017 Shmuel – a young, idealistic student – has abandoned his studies in Jerusalem, taking a live-in job as a companion to a cantankerous old man. But Shmuel quickly becomes obsessed with the taciturn Atalia, a woman of enchanting beauty, who also lives in the house. As the household’s tangled, tragic past becomes apparent, so too does story behind the birth of the state of Israel. Journeying back into the deep past, Judas is a love story like no other by a master storyteller at the height of his powers.‘A hero of mine, a moral as well as literary giant’ Simon Schama‘One of his boldest works of all’ Boyd Tonkin, Financial Times‘Amos Oz…brought so much beauty, so much love, and a vision of peace to our lives. Please hold him in your hearts and read his books’ Natalie PortmanJudas is the first novel selected for the Amos Oz reading circle established by Natalie Portman. Trade ReviewJudas is many-layered, thought-provoking and – in its love story – delicate as a chrysalis, this is an old-fashioned novel of ideas that is strikingly and compellingly modern. -- Peter Stanford * Observer *A very absorbing addition to his remarkable oeuvre -- Andrew Motion * Guardian *This book is compassionate as well as painfully provocative, a contribution to some sort of deeper listening to the dissonances emerging from deep within the politics and theology of Israel and Palestine. -- Rowan Williams * New Statesman *After almost two dozen books that track changes in both heart and state with untiring strength and subtlety, the Israeli master has delivered one of the boldest of all his works… Nicholas de Lange, Oz’s distinguished translator, steers these virtuoso transitions between debate and domesticity with unerring skill… Oz can imagine, and inhabit, treachery of every stripe. But he keeps faith with the art of fiction. -- Boyd Tonkin * Financial Times *A big, beautiful novel… Funny, wise and provoking. -- Kate Saunders * The Times *challenging, complex and strangely compelling… The ideas at the novel’s centre have great vitality and force. The philosophical passages bristle with linguistic energy, scriptural references and dense detail, vividly conveyed in Nicholas de Lange’s translation. -- Eva Hoffman * Spectator *It is rich in material to grapple with. Oz engages with urgent questions while retaining his right as a novelist to fight shy of answers: it’s a mark of his achievement that the result isn’t frustrating but tantalising. -- Anthony Cummins * Daily Telegraph *A masterpiece: command of the word, mastery of construct, the ability to stimulate all the senses of the reader. * La Reppublica *Judas is a rich and thrilling novel, one of the most interesting books published this year. * Haaretz *Amos Oz belongs to the great authors of world literature * Suddeutsche Zeitung *

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Book SynopsisA teenage son shoots himself under his parents'' bed. They sleep that night unaware he is lying dead beneath them.A stranger turns up at a man''s door to persude him that they must get rid of his ageing mother in order to sell the house.An old man grumbles to his daughter about the unexplained digging and banging he hears under the house at night. As each story unfolds, Amos Oz, builds a portrait of a village in Israel. It is a surreal and unsettling place. Each villager is searching for something, and behind each episode is another, hidden story. In this powerful, hynotic work Amos Oz peers into the darkness of our lives and gives us a glimpse of what goes on beneath the surface of everyday existence.By the winner of the 2013 Franz Kafka Prize, previous winners of which include Philip Roth, Ivan Klima, Elfriede Jelinek, Harold Pinter and John Banville.Trade ReviewThis is a dark book, with a dark vision of contemporary Israel… The whole, rich, disturbing mixture makes one feel as if something dark is digging away at the foundations, something unnameable ready to emerge. It is one of the most powerful books you will read about present-day Israel. -- David Herman * Jewish Chronicle *These stories have both force and mystery, and they cast a quiet spell * Scotland on Sunday *A powerfully bleak portrait of loneliness, confusion and cracked bonds * The Times *These stories, in their humanity, may do more for Israel than any of the decisions we have been led to expect of its leaders in the months to come * New Statesman *I enjoyed Amos Oz's Scenes From Village Life a great deal... it explores what is universal, what is entirely idiosyncratic, about daily life in Israel away from the obvious conflicts -- Kate Kellaway * Observer *

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Book SynopsisThis collection – published here in English for the first time – brings together a number of political, personal and literary pieces by Israel's most celebrated living novelist. Their refreshing blend of scepticism and idealism will attract new readers while delighting those already familiar with Oz's writings.Trade Review"...a highly illuminating perspective on Zionism, Socialism, Judaism, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict...these insightful essays from a major Israeli author are long overdue. Highly recommended..." Library Journal"...Oz reveals the prescience of his early political, literary, and philosophical views, which recent events have shown to be remarkably clear sighted." Reform Judaism"Under This Blazing Light by Amos Oz is a wondrous collection of essays that brilliantly reveal to us the heart and mind of one of the great writers of our time." Chaim Potok"Though written in the 1960s and '70s, these searching essays by Israeli novelist and peace activist Oz are remarkably fresh and timely." Publishers Weekly"Adapted from articles, interviews, and lectures from the 1960s and 70s, this is a provocative collection on Israeli society by one of the country's foremost novelists....Whether these musings touch upon the kibbutz, Israeli literature, or his early years in Jerusalem, Oz captivates the reader with his elegantly poetic voice." Kirkus Reviews"Although these essays were written in the 1960s and 1970s, the fears expressed in them still exist, but the hopes they describe now seem a little closer to reality." Booklist"This collection of political, personal and literary pieces by one of Israel's most celebrated novelists is an unmitigated delight...Oz gives us a discreet and charming collection of his writings." Ben Ishtov, Jewish Frontier"By critiquing several well-known Jewish writers and thinkers, Oz gives the reader an insight into the influences on his frame of mind...while providing a highly illuminating perspective on Zionism, Socialism, Judaism, and the Israeli- Palestinian conflict...these useful essays from a major Israeli author are long overdue. Highly recommended for previous fans..." Charles A. Weiss, Library Journal"...the essays present Oz's spellbinding versatility in an attractive and large enough manner to include most of his esthetic and intellectual merits." Yair Mazor, World Literature Today"This collection of essays reveals the personal and political thoughts of Israel's novelist and give perspective to the author's own experiences and development." ShofarTable of ContentsPreface; Introduction; Events and books; Under This Blazing Light; 'Man is the sum total of all the sin and fire pent up in his bones'; 'A ridiculous miracle hanging over our heads'; The State as reprisal; A modest attempt to set out a theory; The meaning of homeland; The discreet charm of Zionism; A. D. Gordon today; Thoughts on the kibbutz; The kibbutz at the present time; How to be a socialist; Munia Mandel's secret language; Pinhas Lavon; The lost garden; An autobiographical note; An alien city; Like a gangster on the night of the long knives, but somewhat in a dream; Notes; Publication history; Index.

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Book SynopsisBorn in Jerusalem in 1939, Amos Oz was the internationally acclaimed author of many novels and essay collections, translated into over forty languages, including his brilliant semi-autobiographical work, A Tale of Love and Darkness. His last novel, Judas, was shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize 2017 and won the Yasnaya Polyana Foreign Fiction Award. He received several international awards, including the Prix Femina, the Israel Prize, the Goethe Prize, the Frankfurt Peace Prize and the 2013 Franz Kafka Prize. He died in December 2018.Trade ReviewCountries need writers as their voices of conscience; few have them. Israel has Oz * Washington Post *One of the greatest prose writers in contemporary fiction * The Times *Amos Oz is a great writer because he tells stories about real people in a way that no one else can -- Alan SillitoeHe has that mixture of lyrical intensity, utter seriousness and capacity for describing life in a few words which characterises some of the best Russian authors -- Melvyn BraggThere are times when you are reminded what it means to be in the presence of a genius...with Amos Oz you have to add wisdom and hope too * Scotsman *

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Book SynopsisA comprehensive, multi-disciplinary, multi-authored guide to contemporary Jewish life and thought, focusing on social, cultural and historical aspects of Judaism alongside theological issues. This volume includes 38 newly-commissioned essays, including contributions from leading specialists in their fields. This book covers the major areas of thought in contemporary Jewish Studies, including considerations of religious differences, sociological, philosophical, and gender issues, geographical diversity, inter-faith relations, and the impact of the Shoah (the Holocaust) and the modern state of Israel.Table of ContentsGeneral Introduction ; 1. Demographic Issues ; HISTORICAL ISSUES ; 2. Enlightenment and Emancipation ; 3. Persecution ; 4. A National Home ; 5. Post-Zionism ; ISSUES OF RELIGION AND MODERNITY ; 6. Modernist Movements ; 7. Traditionalist Strands ; 8. Humanist and Secular Judaisms ; 9. Jewish Renewal ; LOCAL ISSUES ; 10. American Jewry ; 11. Israeli Jewry ; 12. French Jewry ; 13. British Jewry ; 14. Jewry in the Former Soviet Union ; SOCIAL ISSUES ; 15. Survey ; 16. Jewish Identity ; 17. Fundamentalism ; RELIGIOUS ISSUES ; 18. Prayer and Worship ; 19. Authority of Texts ; 20. The Future of Jewish Practice ; THEOLOGICAL ISSUES ; 21. Survey ; 22. Revelation ; 23. Covenant ; PHILOSOPHICAL ISSUES ; 24. Survey ; 25. The Problem of Evil ; 26. Jewish Ethics in a Modern World ; HALAKHIC ISSUES ; 27. Survey ; 28. Halakhah and Israel ; 29. Contemporary Issues in Halakhah ; GENDER ISSUES ; 30. Survey ; 31. The Changing Role of the Woman ; 32. Sexuality ; JUDAISM AND THE OTHER ; 33. As Others See Jews ; 34. Jewish-Christian Relations ; 35. Jewish-Muslim Relations

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Book Synopsis'Luminous' Ian McEwan 'Astonishing' Economist 'Mesmerising and prophetic' Arifa Akbar, Independent It's 1948 and the villagers of Khirbet Khizeh are about to be violently expelled from their homes. A young Israeli soldier who is on duty that day finds himself battling on two fronts: with the villagers and, ultimately, with his own conscience. Haunting and heartbreaking, Khirbet Khizeh, now considered a modern Hebrew masterpiece, offers a wrenchingly honest view of one of Israel's defining moments. 'So incendiary and eloquent that one has to put it down every few pages... How often can you say of a harrowing, unquiet book that it makes you wrestle with your soul?' The TimesTrade ReviewExtraordinary ... Khirbet Khizeh is a tribute to the power of critical thought to register the injustices of history ... Khirbet Khizeh is the story which, with the least ambivalence, offers to official Zionist history its strongest, unanswerable, counterpoint. The translation is long overdue. In lyrical, haunting prose - evocatively rendered into English by Nicholas de Lange and Yaacob Dweck - the narrator describes what was done to the Palestinians in 1948 -- Jacqueline Rose * Guardian *It's subject is so painful, its execution so charged, so wildly beautiful, its moral ambivalence so incendiary and eloquent that one has to put it down every few pages ... the mighty rush of its prose, with its creative syntax, its long, fibrous sentences, its combination of impassioned, unbridled lyricism and colloquial speech, is exhilarating ... How often can you say of a harrowing, unquiet book that it makes you wrestle with your soul -- Neel Mukherjee * The Times *S. Yizar's classic Khirbet Khizeh is available in a fine miniature new edition ... its original publication in 1949 was a landmark, both historically and linguistically * Jewish Chronicle *The luminous account of the clearing of an Arab village during the'48 war -- and of a protest that never quite leaves the throat of its narrator as the houses are demolished and the villagers driven from their land. It is a tribute to an open society that this novella was for many years required reading for Israeli schoolchildren. Khirbet Khizet remains painfully relevant, and the moral questioning lives on. -- Ian McEwan * Jerusalem Prize Acceptance Speech *Yizhar's extraordinary tale narrates the need, and the price, of remembering * Jacqueline Rose *Years after the tragic events it describes, Khirbet Khizeh retains its disturbing relevance ... Conveying in vivid microcosm the moral ambiguities attending Israel's establishment in 1948, [it] resonates as both historical experience and art * TLS *The entire novella, canonical in Hebrew literature, has the effect of pointing up how brutally unjust visitations of war inevitably are upon civilian populations, and how brutally coarsened soldiers must become to carry out the "operational orders" that steer, in the sanitized language of the generals and politicians who decide such things from a distance, the broad and heartless missions of armies -- Mark Kamine * The Believer *There's no false note, no generic anti-war rhetoric in Khirbet, and as long as we continue to kill one another, in the Middle East or elsewhere, Khirbet will retain its poetic relevance * Words Without Borders *Astonishing * The Economist *Sixty years on S. Yizhar's Khirbet Khizeh retains its extraordinary power ... No outline can do justice to a narrative that touches the very heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. For anyone familiar with the 1948 war but reading Khirbet Khizeh for the first time, the story is both startling and uncanny in its predictive clarity -- Ian Black * Jewish Quarterly *Written by an Israeli soldier on a sortie to forcibly expel the Palestinian villagers of Khirbet Khizeh during the 1948 war, this mesmerising and prophetic testimony is just as potent today against the backdrop of continuing conflict ...The account unfolds with a magnificent, biblical simplicity, and none of its terrible beauty is lost in this shimmering translation by Nicholas De Lange and Yaacob Dweck -- Arifa Akbar * Independent *[This] poetic, anguished and uncompromising portrayal of the eviction of an Arab village was based on experience ... the lyricism of the writing has been beautifully captured by Nicolas de Lange and Yaacob Dweck -- Toby Lichtig * Times Literary Supplement *

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