The Five: A Novel of Jewish Life in Turn-of-the-Century Odessa
by Vladimir Jabotinsky
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Description
"The beginning of this tale of bygone days in Odessa dates to the dawn of the twentieth century. At that time we used to refer to the first years of this period as the 'springtime,' meaning a social and political awakening. For my generation, these years also coincided with our own personal springtime, in the sense that we were all in our youthful twenties. And both of these springtimes, as well as the image of our carefree Black Sea capital with acacias growing along its steep banks, are show more interwoven in my memory with the story of one family in which there were five children: Marusya, Marko, Lika, Serezha, and Torik."-from The Five The Five is an captivating novel of the decadent fin-de-siècle written by Vladimir Jabotinsky (1880-1940), a controversial leader in the Zionist movement whose literary talents, until now, have largely gone unrecognized by Western readers. The author deftly paints a picture of Russia's decay and decline-a world permeated with sexuality, mystery, and intrigue. Michael R. Katz has crafted the first English-language translation of this important novel, which was written in Russian in 1935 and published a year later in Paris under the title Pyatero.The book is Jabotinsky's elegaic paean to the Odessa of his youth, a place that no longer exists. It tells the story of an upper-middle-class Jewish family, the Milgroms, at the turn of the century. It follows five siblings as they change, mature, and come to accept their places in a rapidly evolving world. With flashes of humor, Jabotinsky captures the ferment of the time as reflected in political, social, artistic, and spiritual developments. He depicts with nostalgia the excitement of life in old Odessa and comments poignantly on the failure of the dream of Jewish assimilation within the Russian empire. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
Fine, realistic novel of Odessa before the October revolution. Shows a good bit of the conflicts and difficulties of Jewish assimilation and acceptance by Russians. Contains fiery runbles of revolution to come. Surprisingly gentle and sensitive family saga from the firebrand zionist Jabotinsky. Written in 1935, and just recently translated. Helpful notes.
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Author Information
19+ Works 164 Members
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Series
Belongs to Publisher Series
Die Andere Bibliothek (336)
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Five: A Novel of Jewish Life in Turn-of-the-Century Odessa
- Original publication date
- 1936
- First words*
- Der Beginn dieser Erzählung aus dem Leben des vergangenen Odessa liegt ganz am Anfang unseres Jahrhunderts.
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
Classifications
- Genres
- Fiction and Literature, General Fiction
- DDC/MDS
- 891.73 — Literature & rhetoric Asian Literature East Indo-European and Celtic literatures Russian and East Slavic languages Russian fiction
- LCC
- PG3470 .Z4 .P513 — Language and Literature Slavic languages and literatures. Baltic languages. Albanian language Slavic. Baltic. Albanian Russian literature Individual authors and works 1870-1917
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 86
- Popularity
- 370,331
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (3.95)
- Languages
- 5 — Dutch, English, French, German, Russian
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 13
- ASINs
- 2
