As far as romance goes, Jakob Sammelsohn is fairly incurable. A young Jewish occulist, he is twice married - once divorced and once widowed - all by the age of twelve. He finally flees his small village and his pious, vengeful father, and makes his way to dazzling Vienna. Surrounded by intellectuals on the forefront of knowledge and living in a place bustling with innovation, Jakob begins to think he is being followed; a plaguing spirit trails Jakob throughout the novel and challenges his beliefs in a world of science. Travelling from Vienna to Warsaw, Jakob finds three mentors, all real-life luminaries: Sigmund Freud, who is just beginning to raise eyebrows with his early work in psychoanalysis; L. L. Zamenhof, the founder of Esperanto, the utopian international-language, and Rav Kalonymos Kalmish Szapira, a rabbi who refuses to abandon his faith in the darkest moments of the Nazi genocide.
'Skibell crafts a vivid, artfully clever tale grounded in turn-of-the century Europe.' Booklist, Leah Strauss 'Intellectual comedy of the highest order.' J.M. Coetzee
Title: A Curable Romantic
Subtitle:
Contributors:
By (author)
Joseph Skibell
ISBN 13: 9780715643006
ISBN 10: 0715643002
Publisher: Gerald Duckworth & Co Ltd
Imprint: Gerald Duckworth & Co Ltd
Publication Date: 1/06/2012
Place of Publication:
London,
United Kingdom
Edition:
BIC Subjects:
Historical fiction
Dewey Classification:
813.54
(DC21)
NBS Classification: Historical & Mythological Fiction
Format: Hardback
Pages: 608
Height: 234mm
Width: 156mm