The Immortal Bartfuss

by Aharon Appelfeld

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Set in contemporary Israel, The Immortal Bartfuss is perhaps the most profound and powerful portrait of a Holocaust survivor ever drawn. Using the techniques of omission and indirection perfected in such masterpieces as Badenheim 1939 and To the Land of the Cattails, Appelfeld tells the story of Bartfuss, enigmatically "the immortal" because of his experience in the camps. Now locked in a hopeless marriage, Bartfuss struggles to suppress the emotions and recollections he fears and despises, show more while trying to keep alive the poise, dignity, and compassion essential to a human being. The Immortal Bartfuss is an overwhelming and unforgettable study of a man reduced to his tragic limits. show less

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This was an interesting story, albeit not the kind I like that much. It takes place in Jaffa, Israel, after the Holocaust, in which a survivor from Italy lives in an estranged relationship with his wife and two daughters, both grown--one married and the other single and mentally challenged. This man spends his days alone, watching other people, watching the sea, drinking coffee in cafes, and smoking cigarettes. His interactions with others are rare, uncomfortable, and suffused with angst. How much of this is a result of his wartime experiences and how much his own personality is not exactly clear.

I'm glad the story was short as I found it difficult to read because there reallly was not much personal interaction throughout--only a sense show more of loneliness and alienation. show less

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76+ Works 3,661 Members
Aharon Appelfeld was born in a town near Czernowitz, Romania on February 16, 1932. When he was 8 years old, he and his father endured a forced march to a labor camp in Ukraine. He escaped the camp and spent the next three years as a shepherd working for various peasants and always concealing his Jewish identity. He then joined the Soviet Army as a show more cook's helper. After World War II, he spent months in a refugee camp in Italy before going to Palestine in 1946. He worked on a kibbutz, fought in the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, and studied philosophy at Hebrew University. The Holocaust was the main subject of his books. His first novel, The Skin and the Gown, was published in 1971. His other works include Badenheim 1939, The Age of Wonders, To the Land of the Cattails, The Healer, The Immortal Bartfuss, For Every Sin, and Writing and the Holocaust. He received the Israel Prize for literature, The Prime Minister's Prize for Creative Writing, and two Anne Frank Literary Prizes. He taught Hebrew literature for many years at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, in Beersheba. He died on January 4, 2018 at the age of 85. (Bowker Author Biography) show less

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Original publication date
1988
First words
Bartfuss is immortal.
Quotations
From then on they meet every night, drinking coffee and eating sandwiches. The smell of omelet hung in the house until the wee hours. He knew the surgery had begun, but it didn’t worry him much. Their blind groping secretly... (show all) pleased him.
In the next room Rosa and Bridget were still sleeping. The windows of the apartment were closed, and the heavy throbbing of their sleep could be felt even in the kitchen. Their forgotten existence awoke inside him for a mome... (show all)nt and then passed away.
Last words
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)He managed to take off his shoes and socks, to put his shirt on the chair, to look about the naked room, and to say a sentence to himself that he had heard by chance: "From now on I shall remove all worry from my heart and sleep."

Classifications

Genres
Fiction and Literature, General Fiction
DDC/MDS
892.4Literature & rhetoricAsian LiteratureAfro-Asiatic literaturesJewish, Israeli, and Hebrew
LCC
PJ5054 .A755 .B3713Language and LiteratureOriental languages and literaturesOriental philology and literatureHebrewLiteratureIndividual authors and works
BISAC

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Members
140
Popularity
232,938
Reviews
1
Rating
½ (3.44)
Languages
7 — Catalan, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Spanish
Media
Paper
ISBNs
12
ASINs
4