Daniel Stein, Interpreter: A Novel
A novel that follows a Jewish man through the upheavals of the 20th century and turns questions of faith, memory, identity, and conscience into a humanistic inquiry.
Work Information
A novel that follows a Jewish man through the upheavals of the 20th century and turns questions of faith, memory, identity, and conscience into a humanistic inquiry.
Book Information
- Publisher
- Harry N. Abrams
- Published
- 2011-03-31
- Pages
- 416 pages
- Language
- 英語
- Size
- 12.7 x 2.54 x 20.32 cm
- ISBN-13
- 9781590203200
- ISBN-10
- 1590203208
- Category
- 洋書/Literature & Fiction/Genre Fiction/Historical
Daniel Stein, a Polish Jew, miraculously survives the Holocaust by working in the Gestapo as a translator. After the war, he converts to Catholicism, becomes a priest, enters the Order of Barefoot Carmelites and emigrates to Israel. Despite this seeming impossibility, the life and destiny of Daniel Stein are not an invention, the character is based on the life of Oswald Rufeisen, the real Brother Daniel, a Carmelite monk. In Daniel Stein, Interpreter , Daniel¹s ability and willingness to communicate with all cultures, to translate across linguistic and cultural divides, assures his freedom and stands as a symbol of love, humanity and tolerance.
Ludmila Ulitskaya was born in western Russia and worked as a scientist before becoming Repertory Director of the Hebrew Theater of Moscow. She is hailed as Russia's bestselling literary novelist. Arch Tait has a PhD in Russian literature from Cambridge. He has translated the work of many leading Russian writers.
Reviews
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Good read
I found the novel a gripping read, in spite of its huge cast of characters and so many stories criss-crossing the plot. And the fact that it is based on a true story makes it even more fascinating. Ulitskaya delineates characters and details brilliantly. It's direct and unpretentious and the translation made for a good, impactful read.
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Good Read.
Long book. From WW2 in Russia and Poland to Israel. About the Jewish Christians in Israel post WW2. Snippets of letters.
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loved it
I really like her writing. The book is really interesting, brings lots of issues together. Its amazing to hear about this person Daniel Stein. It made me wanting to visit Israel again. I love it how human everybody in the book is. Not black or white, but real people. Please have more kindle books from ludmila ulitskaya.
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An interesting view into the history of life in Israel as a meltng pot for many nations.
I was confused when I first started reading this book but soon grew to like it. It is written through letters and transcripts of different people. But it gives such an insight into what was going on in the lives of so many people who fled to Israel to get away from persecution and death during WWII. I am fascinated by the suffering of the Jews so I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in learning more about that period of time.
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Lengthy tome
I am a slow reader at the best of times, and that is not a good thing for such a very long and complex story. Its based around a Polish Jew who becomes a Catholic priest and post war sets up a church in Israel. Because I put the book down for days at a time I lost track of the many varied and interesting characters and, with the usual hindsight, should have made notes of each as they appeared to remind me of who they were. What confused me is that the book is in five long parts and each chapter may well be about characters or events many years apart from the next. In the first part alone, for example, chapters cover events or letters or whatever from 1959-83, 1960, 1985 and January 1946. I knew I would eventually finish it and quite enjoyed it, but would only recommend it to avid readers. Not to be taken away to be read on a short holiday !
Related Literary Awards
- Park Kyong-ni Prize Edition 2 (2012) ・Winner