The Christ of Fish (English Published) - Hardcover

Hoffmann, Yoel

3.85

48 ratings by Goodreads

9780811214193: The Christ of Fish (English Published)

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0811214192 ISBN 13: 9780811214193

Publisher: New Directions, 1999

View all copies of this ISBN edition:

Yoel Hoffmann's novel The Christ of Fish, revolving around its heroine Aunt Magda, offers a heart-stopping view into the soul of things. Hoffmann makes a beautiful, epiphanic mosaic out of 233 pieces of Aunt Magda's life in Tel Aviv. Originally from Vienna, still speaking German after decades in Israel, and a widow, Aunt Magda has "divided her life into two periods: 'When my husband was alive' and 'now.'" "Now," ever elusive and ever inclusive in Hoffmann's work, contains her childhood, her marriage, her nephew, her best friend Frau Stier, Wildegans' poetry, apple strudel, two stolen handbags, Bing Crosby, a favorite cafe, and a gentleman admirer. Spontaneous and dreamlike, Hoffmann's images of reality shift in currents of "realness,"creating moments of absolute clarity -- life, seized as it is and of itself-- from the "cotton reels of memory." One reel concerns the title fish: "At the beginning of the fifties (Food was scarce in those days. Once a month, in exchange for government stamps, we ate a yellow chicken.) on Passover Eve, Aunt Magda's friend Berthe came to visit her and brought her from the Jordan Valley a large carp in a metal bucket....Aunt Magda filled the bath with water and put the carp in it. Two whole days the carp swam up and down the length of the bath. On the third day, Aunt Magda declared that the carp 'thinks just like we do,' and sent Uncle Herbert (an expert in Sanskrit) 'to put the fish back in the sea.'"

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

About the Author:

Yoel Hoffmann was born in Brasow, Romania in 1937. He is presently a citizen of Israel, and is Professor of Eastern Philosophy at the U. of Haifa. He has had a lifelong scholarly engagement with Hebrew literature, Western philosophy, and Japanese Buddhism. His is the winner of the first Koret Jewish Book Award. His books include The Heart is Katmandu, Bernhardt, The Christ of Fish, and Katschen & The Book of Joseph.

Review:

The Israeli avant-garde genius--in English at last. -- Forward

The stunning Romanian-born Israeli author Yoel Hoffmann, dreamlike and precise, wrenches your heart. -- The New Leader

These exquisite shards of memories, crystallized in language: an attempt to find out "how (by virtue of what principle) the universe keeps going. -- Review of Contemporary Fiction, Allen Hibbard, Spring 2000

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.