Davita's Harp

Davita's Harp PDF Author: Chaim Potok
Publisher: Ballantine Books
ISBN: 0307575497
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 385

Get Book Here

Book Description
For Davita Chandal, growing up in New York in the 1930s and '40s is an experience of indescribable joy—and unfathomable sadness. Her loving parents, both fervent radicals, fill her with the fiercely bright hope for a new, better world. But the deprivations of war and the Depression take their ruthless toll. And Davita, unexpectedly, finds in the Jewish faith that her mother had long ago abandoned both a solace to her questioning inner pain and a test of her budding spirit of independence. To her, life's elusive possibilities for happiness, for fulfillment, for decency, become as real and resonant as the music of the small harp that hangs on her door, welcoming all guests with its sweet, gentle tones. Praise for Davita's Harp “Rich . . . enchanting . . . [Chaim] Potok's bravest book.”—The New York Times Book Review “It is an enormous pleasure to sink into such a rich . . . solidly written novel. The reader knows from the first few pages that he is in the hands of a sure professional who won't let him down.”—People “Engrossing . . . Filled with a host of richly drawn characters. Potok is a master storyteller.”—Chicago Tribune “Gripping and intriguing . . . A well-told tale that needed telling.”—The Philadelphia Inquirer

Davita's Harp

Davita's Harp PDF Author: Chaim Potok
Publisher: Ballantine Books
ISBN: 0307575497
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 385

Get Book Here

Book Description
For Davita Chandal, growing up in New York in the 1930s and '40s is an experience of indescribable joy—and unfathomable sadness. Her loving parents, both fervent radicals, fill her with the fiercely bright hope for a new, better world. But the deprivations of war and the Depression take their ruthless toll. And Davita, unexpectedly, finds in the Jewish faith that her mother had long ago abandoned both a solace to her questioning inner pain and a test of her budding spirit of independence. To her, life's elusive possibilities for happiness, for fulfillment, for decency, become as real and resonant as the music of the small harp that hangs on her door, welcoming all guests with its sweet, gentle tones. Praise for Davita's Harp “Rich . . . enchanting . . . [Chaim] Potok's bravest book.”—The New York Times Book Review “It is an enormous pleasure to sink into such a rich . . . solidly written novel. The reader knows from the first few pages that he is in the hands of a sure professional who won't let him down.”—People “Engrossing . . . Filled with a host of richly drawn characters. Potok is a master storyteller.”—Chicago Tribune “Gripping and intriguing . . . A well-told tale that needed telling.”—The Philadelphia Inquirer

Davita's Harp

Davita's Harp PDF Author: Chaim Potok
Publisher: Ballantine Books
ISBN: 0449911837
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 385

Get Book Here

Book Description
For Davita Chandal, growing up in New York in the 1930s and '40s is an experience of indescribable joy—and unfathomable sadness. Her loving parents, both fervent radicals, fill her with the fiercely bright hope for a new, better world. But the deprivations of war and the Depression take their ruthless toll. And Davita, unexpectedly, finds in the Jewish faith that her mother had long ago abandoned both a solace to her questioning inner pain and a test of her budding spirit of independence. To her, life's elusive possibilities for happiness, for fulfillment, for decency, become as real and resonant as the music of the small harp that hangs on her door, welcoming all guests with its sweet, gentle tones. Praise for Davita's Harp “Rich . . . enchanting . . . [Chaim] Potok's bravest book.”—The New York Times Book Review “It is an enormous pleasure to sink into such a rich . . . solidly written novel. The reader knows from the first few pages that he is in the hands of a sure professional who won't let him down.”—People “Engrossing . . . Filled with a host of richly drawn characters. Potok is a master storyteller.”—Chicago Tribune “Gripping and intriguing . . . A well-told tale that needed telling.”—The Philadelphia Inquirer

Conversations with Chaim Potok

Conversations with Chaim Potok PDF Author: Chaim Potok
Publisher: Univ. Press of Mississippi
ISBN: 9781578063468
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 204

Get Book Here

Book Description
"Writing at its best is an exalted state, an unlocking of the unconscious and imagination and a contact with sanctity." One of America's most popular Jewish writers, Chaim Potok (b. 1929) is the author of such novels as The Chosen (1967), The Promise (1969), The Book of Lights (1981), and Davita's Harp (1985). Each of his novels explores the tension between tradition and modernity, and the clash between Jewish culture and contemporary Western civilization, which he calls "core-to-core culture confrontation." Although primarily known as a novelist, Potok is an ordained Conservative rabbi and a world-class Judaic scholar who has also published children's books, theological discourses, biographies, and histories. Conversations with Chaim Potok presents interviews ranging from 1976 to 1999. Potok discusses the broad range of his writing and the deep influence of non-Jewish novels-in particular, Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited and James Joyce's Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man-on his work. Interviews bear witness to Potok's many other influences-Orthodox Jewish doctrine, Freudian psychoanalytical theory, Picasso's Guernica, and Jewish kabbalah mysticism. Though labeled an American Jewish writer, Potok argues that Flannery O'Connor should then be called an American Catholic writer and John Updike an American Protestant writer. "In his mind," editor Daniel Walden writes, "just as Faulkner was a writer focused on a particular place, Oxford, Mississippi, . . . so Potok's territory was a small section of New York City." Potok often explores conflict in his writings and in his interviews. Strict Jewish teachings deem fiction an artifice and therefore unnecessary, yet since the age of sixteen Potok has been driven to write novels. At the root of all of these conversations is Potok's intense interest in the turmoil between Jewish culture, religion, and tradition and what he calls "Western secular humanism." As he discusses his work, he continually includes broader issues, such as the state of Jewish literature and art, pointing out with pride and enthusiasm his belief that Jewish culture, in the twentieth century, has finally begun to have a significant role in producing and shaping the world's art and literature. Whether discussing the finer details of Talmudic textual analysis or his period of chaplaincy during the Korean War, Potok is articulate and philosophical, bringing deep consideration into what may seem small subjects. Although his novels and histories take place primarily in the recent past, the Chaim Potok that emerges from this collection is a writer deeply rooted in the tensions of the present. Daniel Walden is Professor Emeritus of American Studies, English and Comparative Literature at Penn State University. He has written or edited several books, including On Being Jewish (1974), Twentieth Century American Jewish Writers (1984), The World of Chaim Potok (1985), and American Jewish Poets: The Roots and the Stems (1990).

Old Men at Midnight

Old Men at Midnight PDF Author: Chaim Potok
Publisher: Ballantine Books
ISBN: 0307489000
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 306

Get Book Here

Book Description
From the celebrated author of The Chosen and My Name Is Asher Lev, a trilogy of related novellas about a woman whose life touches three very different men—stories that encompass some of the profoundest themes of the twentieth century. Ilana Davita Dinn is the listener to whom three men relate their lives. As a young girl, she offers English lessons to a teenage survivor of the camps. In “The Ark Builder,” he shares with her the story of his friendship with a proud old builder of synagogue arks, and what happened when the German army invaded their Polish town. As a graduate student, she finds herself escorting a guest lecturer from the Soviet Union, and in “The War Doctor,” her sympathy moves him to put his painful past to paper recounting his experiences as a Soviet NKVD agent who was saved by an idealistic doctor during the Russian civil war, only to encounter him again during the terrifying period of the Kremlin doctors’ plot. And, finally, we meet her in “The Trope Teacher,” in which a distinguished professor of military history, trying to write his memoirs, is distracted by his wife’s illness and by the arrival next door of a new neighbor, the famous writer I. D. (Ilana Davita) Chandal. Poignant and profound, Chaim Potok’s newest fiction is a major addition to his remarkable—and remarkably loved—body of work.

The Chosen

The Chosen PDF Author: Chaim Potok
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1501142461
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 272

Get Book Here

Book Description
The story of two fathers and two sons and the pressures on all of them to pursue the religion they share in the way that is best suited to each. And as the boys grow into young men, they discover in the other a lost spiritual brother, and a link to an unexplored world that neither had ever considered before. In effect, they exchange places, and find the peace that neither will ever retreat from again.

My Name Is Asher Lev

My Name Is Asher Lev PDF Author: Chaim Potok
Publisher: Anchor
ISBN: 0307422348
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 385

Get Book Here

Book Description
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • In this modern classic from the National Book Award–nominated author of The Chosen, a young religious artist is compulsively driven to render the world he sees and feels, even when it leads him to blasphemy. “A novel of finely articulated tragic power .... Little short of a work of genius.”—The New York Times Book Review Asher Lev is a Ladover Hasid who keeps kosher, prays three times a day and believes in the Ribbono Shel Olom, the Master of the Universe. He grows up in a cloistered Hasidic community in postwar Brooklyn, a world suffused by ritual and revolving around a charismatic Rebbe. He is torn between two identities, the one consecrated to God, the other devoted only to art and his imagination, and in time, his artistic gift threatens to estrange him from that world and the parents he adores. As it follows his struggle, My Name Is Asher Lev becomes a luminous, visionary portrait of the artist, by turns heartbreaking and exultant.

100 More Great Books

100 More Great Books PDF Author: Bonnie A. Helms
Publisher: Walch Publishing
ISBN: 9780825118999
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 432

Get Book Here

Book Description
A companion title to 150 Great Books, this acclaimed sequel reviews classic and contemporary works. Each title contains a plot summary, three evaluation tools (a 20-question quiz, 5 short-answer questions, and a chellenge essay question), answers and suggested responses, glossary of literary terms, and bibliographical entries. The 100 titles are grouped in seven categories: Adventure and Survival (such as Run Silent, Run Deep, Lord of the Flies, and A Walk Across America) The Maturing Self (such as The Stranger, Carrie, and Homecoming) History in Fiction (such as The Sun Also Rises, Gone with the Wind, and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court) Science Fiction, Fantasy, and the Supernatural (such as The Last Unicorn, The Other, and The Martian Chronicles) Social Issues and Moral Challenge (such as Go Tell It on the Mountain, All the President's Men, and Skindeep) Success and Achievement (such as The Bell Jar, A Man Called Peter, and Up the Down Staircase) Reflections of the Family (such as Roots, Cold Sassy Tree, and Giants in the Earth) Note: The original literary works are not included.

Wanderings

Wanderings PDF Author: Chaim Potok
Publisher: Ballantine Books
ISBN: 0593359291
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 464

Get Book Here

Book Description
A fascinating history of the Jews, told by a master novelist, here is Chaim Potok's fascinating, moving four thousand-year history. Recreating great historical events, exporing Jewish life in its infinite variety and in many eras and places, here is a unique work by a singular Jewish voice.

Beware of God

Beware of God PDF Author: Shalom Auslander
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1416591400
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 212

Get Book Here

Book Description
Violent rabbis, lovelorn wives, a busy Grim Reaper, shame-filled simians, and one seriously angry deity populate this humorous and disquieting collection. Shalom Auslander's stories in Beware of God have the mysterious punch of a dream. They are wide ranging and inventive: A young Jewish man's inexplicable transformation into a very large, blond, tattooed goy ends with a Talmudic argument over whether or not his father can beat his unclean son with a copy of the Talmud. A pious man having a near-death experience discovers that God is actually a chicken, and he's forced to reconsider his life -- and his diet. At God's insistence, Leo Schwartzman searches Home Depot for supplies for an ark. And a young boy mistakes Holocaust Remembrance Day as emergency preparedness training for the future. Auslander draws upon his upbringing in an Orthodox Jewish community in New York State to craft stories that are filled with shame, sex, God, and death, but also manage to be wickedly funny and poignant.

Zebra and Other Stories

Zebra and Other Stories PDF Author: Chaim Potok
Publisher: Turtleback Books
ISBN: 9780613302029
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages :

Get Book Here

Book Description
A collection of stories about six different young people who each experience a life-changing event.