HomeGroupsTalkMoreZeitgeist
Search Site
This site uses cookies to deliver our services, improve performance, for analytics, and (if not signed in) for advertising. By using LibraryThing you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Your use of the site and services is subject to these policies and terms.

Results from Google Books

Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.

Loading...

The Brothers Ashkenazi (1970)

by Israel Joshua Singer

Other authors: See the other authors section.

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
4141060,385 (4.28)31
In the Polish city of Lodz, the Brothers Ashkenazi grew up very differently in talent and in temperament. Max, the firstborn, is fiercely intelligent and conniving, determined to succeed financially by any means necessary. Slower-witted Jacob is strong, handsome, and charming but without great purpose in life. While Max is driven by ambition and greed to be more successful than his brother, Jacob is drawn to easy living and decadence. As waves of industrialism and capitalism flood the city, the brothers and their families are torn apart by the clashing impulses of old piety and new skepticism, traditional ways and burgeoning appetites, and the hatred that grows between faiths, citizens, and classes. Despite all attempts to control their destinies, the brothers are caught up by forces of history, love, and fate, which shape and, ultimately, break them. First published in 1936, The Brothers Ashkenazi quickly became a bestseller as a sprawling family saga. Breaking away from the introspective shtetl tales of classic nineteenth-century writers, I. J. Singer brought to Yiddish literature the multilayered plots, large casts of characters, and narrative sweep of the traditional European novel. Walking alongside such masters as Zola, Flaubert, and Tolstoy, I. J. Singer's pre-modernist social novel stands as a masterpiece of storytelling.… (more)
Loading...

Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.

No current Talk conversations about this book.

» See also 31 mentions

English (5)  Italian (5)  All languages (10)
Showing 5 of 5
A Yiddish Tolstoy/Hardy. ( )
  markm2315 | Jul 1, 2023 |
Loved the book. It is the story of two Chasidic brothers who live in prewar Poland. It goes until between the two world wars. Singer is an amazing writer. The characters are well developed and multifaceted. He gives a lot of information about the historical period so that it is easy to follow the story. This is a story I would definitely recommend. ( )
  KamGeb | Nov 6, 2019 |
Credo che abbiano dato il Nobel al Singer sbagliato, dovevano darlo a Israel, non a Isaac.
Dopo la "Famiglia Karnowski" questo libro mi conferma nell'idea.
Questo romanzo propone un affresco storico della Polonia, e di Lodz in particolare, di grande spessore. Viene descritta, attraverso le vicende dei fratelli Ashkenazi, la vita e l'espansione industriale in questa terra dalla metà '800 fino alla fine della prima guerra mondiale.
Quello che emerge sono un po' i soliti temi cari all'autore, l'ebraismo e la tradizione che si scontrano con la realtà in cui vivono gli ebrei. Propone il tema del messianesimo politico di matrice ebraica che ha ispirato e fatto nascere i movimenti socialisti e comunisti.
Il tutto descritto molto bene attraverso i personaggi di contorno dei protagonisti principali, ma necessari alla economia della storia narrata.
E sono i protagonisti della storia quelli che mi hanno colpito molto in questo romanzo.
Due fratelli gemelli, ma molto diversi, che non si sono mai amati e che, uno in particolare, costruisce la sua vita in continua lotta per primeggiare sull'altro.
Simcha Meier, poi Max, che è gretto e arrivista, che non sopporta Yacob Bunim, poi Jacob, per la sua vitalità e simpatia innata.
Max distrugge tutto pur di arrivare allo scopo, che è quello di far soldi e primeggiare. Jacob apparentemente solo fortunato passa la vita a divertirsi e a contrarre matrimoni lucrosi.
Quando Max si rende conto di aver sprecato la sua vita, a seguito di una disfatta epocale, nella corsa sfrenata ai soldi, con modalità davvero brutali, si propone di rimediare. Ma nonostante i buoni propositi si rende conto che non può ricomporre ciò che ha distrutto. Gli affetti non li puoi ricostruire.
Un aspetto che mi ha colpito è come i progrom siano stati di una violenza inaudita che nulla ha da invidiare alla furia nazista, qui vengono raccontati con lucidità che spaventa. Gli ebrei diventano il capro espiatorio di ogni problema, nonostante sia stato proprio il messianesimo ebraico a creare gli sconvolgimenti politici.
Ma la cosa più interessante e particolare, a mio avviso, è che qui Singer, ebreo, descrive l'ipocrisia, l'attaccamento al denaro, la vergogna di essere ebrei, come forse neanche un antisemita riuscirebbe a fare. Figli che rinnegano la fede e la appartenenza di popolo.
Per la prima volta leggo, scritto da un ebreo, di ebrei che si rapportano al mondo confermando gli stereotipi con cui vengono bollati gli ebrei, questi stereotipi vengono confermati da un ebreo stesso. Ma qui traspare l'amore per il suo popolo, e lo sguardo benevolo con cui lo guarda.
Questi stereotipi confermati da Singer mi hanno fatto ricordare una frase di un film di Mamet (ebreo anche lui): Sono duemila anni che ci perseguitano, qualcosa avremo pur fatto per farci odiare così.
Personalmente ho sempre sostenuto che gli ebrei e la loro storia sono il paradigma del rapporto fra Dio e l'uomo, con tutti gli errori, i peccati, i tradimenti che sono nella natura umana. Ed è per questa mia convinzione che adoro e ammiro i libri degli scrittori ebraici ( )
  SirJo | Sep 4, 2017 |
The town of Lodz was at the center of the industrial revolution unleashed across Europe. Max, the older brother, was ambitious and won power and wealth by unrelenting exertion. Yakob was a lover of life, and enjoyed happy accidents leading to success. Each brother despised the other, yet they were fixed upon each other.

I did a study of the role played by the "women" depicted in their lives.
  keylawk | Dec 28, 2012 |
Through fiction, the history of Jews in Eastern Europe from mid-19th c. to early 20th c.is told. Translated by Joseph Singer
  Folkshul | Jan 15, 2011 |
Showing 5 of 5
no reviews | add a review

» Add other authors (14 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Israel Joshua Singerprimary authorall editionscalculated
Rabinovitch, AnneTranslatormain authorsome editionsconfirmed
Spire, Marie-BrunetteTranslatormain authorsome editionsconfirmed
Zilberberg, PeretzNarratormain authorsome editionsconfirmed
Fonzi, BrunoTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Howe, IrvingIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Magris, ClaudioForewordsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Samuel, MauriceTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.
For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.
Canonical title
Information from the Italian Common Knowledge. Edit to localize it to your language.
Original title
Alternative titles
Original publication date
People/Characters
Information from the Italian Common Knowledge. Edit to localize it to your language.
Important places
Important events
Related movies
Epigraph
Dedication
Dedicated to
the Memory of My Son
YASHA
First words
Down the sandy roads leading from Saxony and Silesia into Poland, through fields, forests, towns, and villages razed and ravaged by the Napoleonic Wars, rolled a strange procession of vehicles, people, animals, and objects.
Quotations
Last words
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
Disambiguation notice
Publisher's editors
Blurbers
Original language
Information from the Italian Common Knowledge. Edit to localize it to your language.
Canonical DDC/MDS
Canonical LCC

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English (1)

In the Polish city of Lodz, the Brothers Ashkenazi grew up very differently in talent and in temperament. Max, the firstborn, is fiercely intelligent and conniving, determined to succeed financially by any means necessary. Slower-witted Jacob is strong, handsome, and charming but without great purpose in life. While Max is driven by ambition and greed to be more successful than his brother, Jacob is drawn to easy living and decadence. As waves of industrialism and capitalism flood the city, the brothers and their families are torn apart by the clashing impulses of old piety and new skepticism, traditional ways and burgeoning appetites, and the hatred that grows between faiths, citizens, and classes. Despite all attempts to control their destinies, the brothers are caught up by forces of history, love, and fate, which shape and, ultimately, break them. First published in 1936, The Brothers Ashkenazi quickly became a bestseller as a sprawling family saga. Breaking away from the introspective shtetl tales of classic nineteenth-century writers, I. J. Singer brought to Yiddish literature the multilayered plots, large casts of characters, and narrative sweep of the traditional European novel. Walking alongside such masters as Zola, Flaubert, and Tolstoy, I. J. Singer's pre-modernist social novel stands as a masterpiece of storytelling.

No library descriptions found.

Book description
This is a historical novel about Jews in Poland, the Industrial Revolution, and the beginnings of Communism.
Haiku summary

Current Discussions

None

Popular covers

Quick Links

Rating

Average: (4.28)
0.5
1
1.5
2 1
2.5
3 4
3.5 5
4 16
4.5 3
5 21

Is this you?

Become a LibraryThing Author.

 

About | Contact | Privacy/Terms | Help/FAQs | Blog | Store | APIs | TinyCat | Legacy Libraries | Early Reviewers | Common Knowledge | 203,189,045 books! | Top bar: Always visible