Two newly revised translations from the Hebrew, with new and illustrated annotations, of two novellas by Nobel Laureate S.Y. Agnon. Two stories clearly in dialogue with one another, sharing elements of moonstruck sleepwalkers, disengaged academics, and the typically Agnonian unfulfilled love.
In Betrothed, Jacob Rechnitz, a marine biologist arrives in pre-World War I Jaffa on the Mediterranean coast of the Land of Israel. His scholarly pursuits and gentle dalliance with six girls is interrupted by the arrival of his benefactor Ehrlich and his daughter Shoshanah, who is destined to rouse Jacob from his waking slumber through the power of their childhood betrothal oath.
The idyllic peace of Betrothed is counterpointed in Edo and Enam by restlessness leading to tragedy. The scholars Ginat and Gamzu are wanderers; men like the narrator himself, gambling on travel for some magical answer to their problems. Ironically, Gamzuβs wife Gemulah, a sleepwalker, puts an end to their quest in a manner as tragic as it is unexpected.
Review
"Within Two Tales , "Betrothed" and "Edo and Enam" are two narrative jewels, each belonging to a different cycle in Agnon's literary corpus. "Betrothed" is part of his Jaffa tales while "Edo and Enam" is about the sages of Jerusalem. Both stories transcend their respective locales and cast of characters as tradition and mythic symbols interplay with reality.
Agnon weaves Jewish and classical European themes into "Betrothed". The implicit counter-narratives of this tale are Jewish stories about neglected brides that involve demonic and supernatural worlds. But unlike the men of these stories, Jacob Rechnitz, the scientist of the sea, resists the allures of the six seductive nymphs, and remains faithful to his childhood love and his first marriage vow.
In contrast "Edo and Enam" is symbolically totally grounded in Jewish tradition; in fact tradition itself becomes the tale's central theme. The narrative triangulation of two scholars and a womanβmotivated by jealousy, envy and desireβprojects the tragic dimension of the revival of Jewish society in Zion. The ideal and aspired ingathering of exiles inevitably caused the destruction of tradition-steeped communities. Uprooted, tradition transformed from a lived experience to an object of research and the gaze of tourists, squeezed out of its quintessential vitality."βDan Ben-Amo
"[Rechnitz] is a man who has to be overtaken, surprised by Eros." βAllen Mandelbaum
"The man is tremendously good. . . . [Agnonβs stories] . . . have an international currency."βJames Michener
From the Publisher
Library of World Fiction
Terrace Books
1966 cloth, 1986 paperback, Schocken Books
Wisconsin edition not for sale in the traditional British Commonwealth, South Africa, and Ireland; it is for sale in Canada.