Szybusz, a small town in Jewish Galicia, is the scene of a bitter-sweet romance at the beginning of the twentieth century. Few of Agnon's stories are told as effortlessly as A Simple Story, yet this engaging tale reveals the profound psychological and social insights of the Nobel Laureate's finest fiction.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Hebrew
The appearance in translation of a novel by a Nobel Laureate is cause for rejoicing, even when it sits less comfortably in English than in the original Hebrew. A story of a marriage, it takes place in Szybusz, a fictional town in the Austro-Hungarian empire. Blume Nacht, after her mother's death, becomes a servant in the house of cousins, whose son Hirshl falls in love with her. Blume, beautiful and almost superhumanly capable, repudiates Hirshl, a bit of a simpleton. He, when pressed by his substantial parents, slips bewilderedly into marriage with Mina, a heavily cologned boarding-school graduate. Blume meanwhile moves to another household and is rarely seen again, leaving the reader's expectations unfulfilled. Hirshl's too, for she is ever-present in his heart, stunting his sexual relationship with Mina and driving him from melancholy to madness. That he recovers, returns to his wife, and begins to find in what had been an emptyheaded, passive girl robust sensuality and social understanding, seems to reflect his emerging maturity and acceptance of the bourgeois solidity represented by his parents and the town itself. Agnon's achievement is to have combined gentle mockery of the myriad characters he brings so engagingly to life with staunch championing of values and customs that were soon to be doomed. His scholarship and literary astuteness inform a story that is at once rich in biblical allusion and redolent of the society in which he was raised. December
Copyright 1985 Reed Business Information, Inc.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Shipping:
FREE
Within U.S.A.
Shipping:
FREE
Within U.S.A.
Seller: ThriftBooks-Dallas, Dallas, TX, U.S.A.
Paperback. Condition: Good. No Jacket. Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less 0.75. Seller Inventory # G1592643582I3N00
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: GF Books, Inc., Hawthorne, CA, U.S.A.
Condition: Very Good. Book is in Used-VeryGood condition. Pages and cover are clean and intact. Used items may not include supplementary materials such as CDs or access codes. May show signs of minor shelf wear and contain very limited notes and highlighting. 0.75. Seller Inventory # 1592643582-2-3
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: Book Deals, Tucson, AZ, U.S.A.
Condition: Fine. Like New condition. Great condition, but not exactly fully crisp. The book may have been opened and read, but there are no defects to the book, jacket or pages. 0.75. Seller Inventory # 353-1592643582-lkn
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: Book Deals, Tucson, AZ, U.S.A.
Condition: Very Good. Very Good condition. Shows only minor signs of wear, and very minimal markings inside (if any). 0.75. Seller Inventory # 353-1592643582-vrg
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: Irish Booksellers, Portland, ME, U.S.A.
Condition: Good. SHIPS FROM USA. Used books have different signs of use and do not include supplemental materials such as CDs, Dvds, Access Codes, charts or any other extra material. All used books might have various degrees of writing, highliting and wear and tear and possibly be an ex-library with the usual stickers and stamps. Dust Jackets are not guaranteed and when still present, they will have various degrees of tear and damage. All images are Stock Photos, not of the actual item. book. Seller Inventory # 1592643582-R
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: GF Books, Inc., Hawthorne, CA, U.S.A.
Condition: New. Book is in NEW condition. 0.75. Seller Inventory # 1592643582-2-1
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: Book Deals, Tucson, AZ, U.S.A.
Condition: New. New! This book is in the same immaculate condition as when it was published 0.75. Seller Inventory # 353-1592643582-new
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: booksXpress, Bayonne, NJ, U.S.A.
Soft Cover. Condition: new. Seller Inventory # 9781592643585
Quantity: 3 available
Seller: Wizard Books, Long Beach, CA, U.S.A.
Paperback. Condition: new. New. Seller Inventory # Wizard1592643582
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: GoldenDragon, Houston, TX, U.S.A.
Paperback. Condition: new. Buy for Great customer experience. Seller Inventory # GoldenDragon1592643582
Quantity: 1 available