- Paperback: 112 pages
- Publisher: University of New Mexico Press (Sep 1 1998)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0826319521
- ISBN-13: 978-0826319524
- Product Dimensions: 21.1 x 14.1 x 1 cm
- Shipping Weight: 154 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,628,934 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
Book Description
Samuel Rawet (1929-84) was born in a small Polish town near Warsaw that was eventually destroyed during World War II. He emigrated to Brazil at the age of seven and grew up on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro in neighborhoods teeming with Jews and other immigrants. Known as the pioneer of Brazilian-Jewish writing, Rawet represents an artfully sensitive voice of the Jewish Diaspora in Latin America, especially Brazil, a country of more than 150 million inhabitants that today harbors nearly 150,000 Jews whose ancestry is primarily Eastern European.
As Nelson Vieira notes, the stories in this collection all relate to the vicissitudes of displaced individuals who are frequently trapped by society's rigid norms. Some, like the Jew with the white beard and the long black overcoat in the title story who steps off the gangplank, are entering a world that is no longer theirs. Old World characters enter a New World where they are not used to the language or the sun or "the frustration of not being able to explain." Other characters can't communicate even with those familiar to them; one woman describes herself and her sister as two strangers in a doctor's waiting room.
Rawet's characters eloquently embody exile, alienation, and displacement. His is a prophetic, solitary Brazilian-Jewish voice that Vieira has made available at last to English-speaking audiences. Writing in the 1950s and 1960s, Rawet knew first-hand that we all can be others and strangers, even in our own land.
From the Publisher
Jewish Latin America series
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Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
An important voice in the Jewish literature of Brazil,
By
This review is from: The Prophet and Other Stories (Hardcover)
"The Prophet and Other Stories," by Samuel Rawet, brings together 12 short stories by this historically important author. The stories have been translated from Portuguese into English by Nelson H. Vieira, who also wrote the introduction.Born in eastern Europe, Rawet (1929-84) emigrated to Brazil as a child. Vieira calls him "the proclaimed pioneer of Brazilian-Jewish writing." Rawet's stories are moody and introspective. His stories often read like extended prose poems, and his language frequently has an odd, almost hypnotic quality. Rawet writes about the immigrant experience, anti-Semitism, family conflict, and other topics. He takes a modern approach to a figure from Jewish folklore in the story "Johny Golem." Many of his stories are "metafictions" in which the narrator comments on his own work as a storyteller. If you are interested in Jewish literature or Latin American literature, give this short volume a try. I also recommend the novels and short stories of the excellent Brazilian-Jewish author Moacyr Scliar.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.0 out of 5 stars (1 customer review) 2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
An important voice in the Jewish literature of Brazil,
By Michael J. Mazza - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Prophet and Other Stories (Hardcover)
"The Prophet and Other Stories," by Samuel Rawet, brings together 12 short stories by this historically important author. The stories have been translated from Portuguese into English by Nelson H. Vieira, who also wrote the introduction.Born in eastern Europe, Rawet (1929-84) emigrated to Brazil as a child. Vieira calls him "the proclaimed pioneer of Brazilian-Jewish writing." Rawet's stories are moody and introspective. His stories often read like extended prose poems, and his language frequently has an odd, almost hypnotic quality. Rawet writes about the immigrant experience, anti-Semitism, family conflict, and other topics. He takes a modern approach to a figure from Jewish folklore in the story "Johny Golem." Many of his stories are "metafictions" in which the narrator comments on his own work as a storyteller. If you are interested in Jewish literature or Latin American literature, give this short volume a try. I also recommend the novels and short stories of the excellent Brazilian-Jewish author Moacyr Scliar. |
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