The Magician of Lublin: Amazon.ca: Isaac Bashevis Singer, J. Singer, E. Gottlieb: Books

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Singer's prestidigitating hero personifies Jewish artists of fin-de-siècle Eastern Europe. For a guy who lives a self-indulgent existence, Yasha sure wrings his hands a lot--about his women, his faith (or lack of it), his Jewishness, his morals, his career, his finances. His Nobel Prize-winning creator relates his adventures and nail-biting with that virile lust for life, humor, insight, universality, and pathos for which he is justly lauded. This pristine audio delivers it all, thanks to Larry Keith's zealous performance. He sounds as if he has lovingly studied and rehearsed this book before entering the studio, as if he has walked along the same Polish streets as Yasha. Better, he combines this intimate knowledge of his hero and his milieu with an ability to make the listener see, touch, and smell. An enchanting book enchantingly read. Y.R. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

Midwest Book Review, January 2001

"A 'must' for the legions of Singer fans... admirably serves to introduce a whole new generation to this master storyteller..." --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

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5.0�toiles sur 5 Trickster Tumbles, Taps into Truth, Jui 12 2004

Par	Robert S. Newman "Bob Newman" (Marblehead, Massachusetts USA) - Voir tous mes commentaires (REAL NAME)

Ce commentaire est de: MAGICIAN OF LUBLIN (Mass Market Paperback)

But can we know what God wants us to do ? Isn't it a case of Man sewing throughout his lifetime the clothes that fit him ? We ask a million questions, however the answers lie only within. You have to do as you see fit. Some say the discipline of orthodox religion points out the road; every bird, every snowflake, every acorn lying on the grass is proof of God's existence. Others deny the whole thing and swear God never existed. Singer's tale of a religiously-lapsed Jewish magician/acrobat is not so much about tricks or a series of interlocking events as about a man torn between Good and Evil. Though Yasha lives on the edge of Polish society and associates with the most dubious of characters, he has a conscience, he loves women and is kind to animals, but always manipulates them to his own ends. He is more and more plagued by self-doubt and indecision as he grows older, until he can no longer act. His life of flimflam grifting, adultery, and hocus-pocus unravels when he ventures to break the 8th commandment---Thou Shalt Not Steal. He himself knows that he has at last gone too far. His four women, his course of dubious activity, his pride in his ability---all then fall away. In the end, Yasha takes a drastic and unexpected measure in order to control his desires and his straying from the path of the righteous. He achieves the fame which eluded him for so many years as a magician. The struggle within him continues unabated. Yasha remains a thinker, a questioner, a wonderer, not a blind accepter of given wisdom.

THE MAGICIAN OF LUBLIN epitomizes, in the form of a novel, the basic elements of Jewish thinking. Or at least, it asks and tries to answer the most basic questions of that tradition. It is certainly an interesting novel, but it is also a masterpiece of Jewish philosophy. Man is born to question. If you don't question, you are not even alive. But don't expect to get "THE" answer because it doesn't exist. Nobel Prize winner, Isaac Bashevis Singer, as always, presents a vivid picture of the lost world of the East European Jews in all its gritty piety and desperate poverty., the world swallowed up by Evil, no matter how many prayers were said. For as it is written, (at least to paraphrase a certain well-known spaghetti western), "when a man with a prayer meets a man with a gun, the man with a prayer is a dead man". Singer was lucky enough to escape, but not unmarked, no, not at all. As I started, so I will finish. In view of the meaningless destruction of a whole world wrought by the Holocaust, how can we know what God wants us to do ? This book contains a particular answer, but the quest continues.

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5.0�toiles sur 5 A timeless tale of human emotions, Janv. 24 2001

Par	Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - Voir tous mes commentaires

Ce commentaire est de: The Magician of Lublin (Audio Cassette)

Isaac Bashevis Singer (1904-1991) is one of the true literary giants of twentieth century literature. In this eight cassette, 9 hour, unabridged audiobook edition we are treated to one of his best stories, aptly narrated by Larry Keith. The Magician Of Lublin is a timeless tale of human emotions, questions, and quandaries as young Yasha's reckless courage takes him to the very edge of catastrophe. Singer had an unrivaled gift for creating very real, believable characters caught up in the vicissitudes of life and with whom we can all readily identify. The Magician Of Lublin is a "must" for the legions of Singer fans and would admirable serve to introduce a whole new generation to this master storyteller and his art.

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The Magician of Lublin (Hardcover)

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