{"product_id":"isaacs-torah-concerning-the-life-of-isaac-jacob-blumenfeld-through-two-world-wars-three-concentration-camps-and-five-motherlands-paperback","title":"Isaac's Torah: Concerning the Life of Isaac Jacob Blumenfeld Through Two World Wars, Three Concentration Camps, and Five Motherlands: A Novel - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eAngel Wagenstein\u003c\/b\u003e (Author), \u003cb\u003eElizabeth Frank\u003c\/b\u003e (Translator), \u003cb\u003eDeliana Simeonova\u003c\/b\u003e (Translator)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis novel is the saga in five parts of Isaac Jacob Blumenfeld, who grows up in Kolodetz, a small town near Lvov, which, when he's a boy, belongs to the Hapsburg Empire, but which subsequently belongs to Poland, Soviet Russia, Germany, and then Russia again. Isaac survives the absurdity and horror of Eastern Europe during the 20th century by pretending to be a fool. If this is an old Jewish art, then Isaac is a consummate artist. He plays the fool all his life, from his boyhood in Kolodetz shetl to the time when he is an accused war criminal in a Gulag in Siberia. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eInseparable from Isaac's life and story are the Yiddish jokes and fables of Kolodetz. These and the counsel of his dear friend, the rabbi and chair of the atheist club in Kolodetz, Shmuel Ben David, sustain Isaac through two world wars, three concentration camps, and five motherlands. The book puts on record, with full art, what is perhaps the central story of the last one hundred years. It is a wise book.\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAngel Wagenstein\u003c\/b\u003e is a Bulgarian screenwriter and author. His film \u003ci\u003eStars\u003c\/i\u003e, shot in 1959 by the German director Konrad Wolf, was awarded the Special Prize of the Jury at the Cannes Film Festival. His fiction includes the triptych of novels \u003ci\u003eIsaac's Torah\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eFar from Toledo\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eFarewell, Shanghai\u003c\/i\u003e, which have been published in French, German, Russian, English, Czech, Polish, Macedonian, Spanish, Italian, Hebrew, and other languages. \u003ci\u003eFarewell, Shanghai\u003c\/i\u003e received the Jean Monnet Prize of European literature in 2004, and in 2022 was adapted into a six-episode television series directed by Radu Mihăileanu. Wagenstein is a Chevalier of the Ordre national du Mérite and a Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cb\u003eElizabeth Frank\u003c\/b\u003e is a Professor of Modern Languages and Literature at Bard College. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eDeliana Simeonova\u003c\/b\u003e was born in Bulgaria and studied English philology and American literature at the University of Sofia. She has worked for civil-society NGOs in Tajikistan, Serbia, Liberia, and now does that work in her native Bulgaria.\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 320\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1 x 8 x 5.2 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e October 25, 2022\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42170144718983,"sku":"9781635423716","price":17.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0601\/2623\/2711\/files\/a450f55c5f5b9c9208c6f10528c6b5f5.webp?v=1733346288","url":"https:\/\/booksby.splitshops.com\/products\/isaacs-torah-concerning-the-life-of-isaac-jacob-blumenfeld-through-two-world-wars-three-concentration-camps-and-five-motherlands-paperback","provider":"Books by splitShops","version":"1.0","type":"link"}