With Signs & Wonders: An International Anthology of Jewish Fabulist Fiction

by Daniel M. Jaffe

Book Overview

Bringing together 24 contemporary writers from 19 different countries, this anthology captures the exuberant story-telling tradition of the Jewish people that has been shaped by centuries of legends, folklore, and mysticism.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0967968356
• ISBN13: 9780967968353
• Release Date: May 2001
• Publisher: Invisible Cities Press
• Length: 360 Pages
• Weight: 2.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 5.9" x 8.8"

Customer Reviews

A World of Jewish Fiction

Originally, I located this book because of a story about the binding of Isaac, the kind of story you don't forget. But, in reading the other authors in this collection, I developed an admiration for the variety of Jewish fiction out there. The subtitle of this collection references fabulist fiction. Think of the surreal quality of Latin American writers (and many of these writers come from that part of the world) and you will have some idea of how the authors are preoccupied with time. Bottom line, this collection is fun to read and discuss with friends.

A Bridge Among Jewish Communities

Others have praised the delightful stories in this rich volume, so I won't spend my time repeating--although I may well say that every good word spoken about this anthology is true. What I shall emphasize is how extraordinarily this book bridges various Jewish communities and sensibilities. Contemporary Jewish culture has become extremely fragmented during the last fifty or one hundred years. Then here comes a book including Jewish stories from nearly two dozen countries, showing that we all have so much in common despite our differences. Jews in Morocco can relate on these pages to Jews of Russia and Iran and Argentina and Mexico and Siberia and Finland and France and Israel of course, and so on. Ashkenazi and Sephardi and Mizrahi all together sharing the same quests. This book PROVES that we are a united people despite our petty differences. THIS book should be the constitution of the World Jewish Congress. THIS book brings Jewish diversity together in one volume. THIS book should be given to every bar and bat mitzvah around the world. Then we would be one people as in ancient times.

a wink of the numinous

This is a delightful anthology with an intriguing title. As it appears, "fabulist" has to do with imagination, in this case Jewish, which raises each story to the level of a mystical adventure. For example, Tehila Lieberman's "Anya's Angel" with wistfulness and delicacy evokes a touching love story with many links to the infinite; Daniel Jaffe's own "Sarrushka and her Daughter" is a highly intriguing folk legend exploring extra-sensory powers in individuals. And here are, to my mind, the best six: Mark Apelman's "A Visitor's Guide to Berlin" is an amazingly powerful evocation of Holocaust memories and an utterly convincing artistic emplotment of those memories, in their intensity and brutal reality, as inhabiting modern-day Berlin and claiming a reality that is more than real. Yakov Shechter's "Midday," a story about the search for meaning and about shaping one's own destiny, has a strong atmosphere of the numinous - the clouds keep darkening, the mystical intent comes more and more into focus - towards the resolution, still mysterious yet imaginatively satisfying. Joan Leegant's "The Tenth" is a powerfully imagined story of a rabbi whose faith, learning, tolerance, whose intellectual and spiritual endurance are callenged and tested by the appearance of an unusual candidate to complete a minyan. (A similar case of a rabbi who is tested by a rebellious pupil is treated flatly and unimaginatively by Steven Sher in "Tsuris," which only shows that what matters and what makes a story fabulous (excuse the pun!) is not the fabula but the quality of imagination and a way with language.) Ruth Knafo Setton's "The Cat Garden" is electrifying, memorable, descriptively evocative. The anthology ends with two of the strongest stories: Dina Rubina's "Apples from Shlitzbutter's Garden," which explores the semi-mystical ways in which our forefathers' inheritance follows its paths into the consciousness of the younger generation, does so with singular warmth and a sense of humor that makes everything vivid. Here the translator (who is Jaffe himself) does an exceptional job conveying an impression of a friendly, chatty narrator communicating real warmth and charm - and yet the story touches on the inevitably painful theme of the memories of our collective past. The last story in the collection is Steve Stern's "the Tale of a Kite," a marvelous fable humorously teaching us a lesson about human nature as well as making an eloquent case for the human need to believe utterly, unsceptically and completely. As in all anthologies, unevenness is the other side of variety.Given so many excellent stories it is a mild disappointment to have alonside some weak ones, such as Galina Vromen's "Sara's Story," Moacyr Scliar's "The Prophets of Benjamin Bok," Steven Sher's "Tsuris" and Cyrille Fleishman's "One day, Victor Hugo." These stories' weakness is, predominantly, in their defective imagination, which treats the supernatural realm as a source of tricks rather than of signi

An Unusual Delight

Over the years, I have read quite a number of Jewish-themed and other anthologies. I certainly expected this one to be of interest, but was taken aback at its freshness, its unique approach, its range and cultural sensitivity. Not only is the emphasis on spirituality and mysticism refreshing, but this book showcases numerous writers on the rise with whom I had not been familiar. I will now seek out their books. And so many translations of works that are simply not available in English elsewhere! This anthology introduced me to writers and literary cultures I'd known only marginally. Kudos to the editor. My favorite stories were those by E. Seltz of Israel (originally from Siberia of all places!), M. Scliar of Brazil, A. Muniz-Huberman of Mexico, and a few from U.S. writers--D. Jaffe (the editor), R. Knafo Setton, and M. Apelman. Contemporary issues of questioning the presence of spirituality in our lives, ancient historical themes, Holocaust themes, and as Mr. Jaffe says in his Introduction, several stories on the theme of Jew as other. (One would expect the Introduction to be a useful overview for college students, by the way.) Half men authors, half women authors, secular and religious perspectives, Ashkenazi, Sephardi, Mizrahi sensibilities. Quite a representative mix of global Jewish culture. And fine literature at the same time. A must read.