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2021 | KW 46

© Wolf Heine

Buchempfehlung der Woche

von Moshe Sakal

Der Schriftsteller Moshe Sakal ist in Tel-Aviv geboren und aufgewachsen und lebt seit 2019 in Berlin. Sechs Bücher hat er bis jetzt veröffentlicht, zuletzt ist 2020 der Roman Unicorn erschienen. Der Roman The Diamond Setter konnte bei Other Press in englischer Übersetzung erscheinen und Yolanda wurde ins Französische übersetzt.
Für 2021 wurde Moshe Sakal eines der Jahresstipendien für nicht auf Deutsch schreibende Autor·innen des Berliner Senats zuerkannt.

David Vogel
Eine Wiener Romanze
(Roman); Aus dem Hebräischen von Ruth Achlama, Aufbau Verlag, Berlin 2013

Michael Rost is an 18 years old Jewish guy who arrives in Vienna in the city’s last years as the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Rost has high expectations from his new city; he is curious and well aware of his charisma. Shortly after his arrival Rost rents a room at a bourgeoise family’s house, where he is letting himself to be seduced both by the lady of the house and by her sixteen-year-old daughter. As mentioned in the publisher’s note, “A compelling portrait of a decadent society, it also lays bare the obsessive–destructive nature of love.”

The tension of the love triangle between Michael Rost and the mother and daughter – Ironic and tragic at times – plays a major role in the readers’ enjoyment from this novel. It is an early work in prose by the author, unpublished in his lifetime, and therefore – alongside the freshness of the writing – it has not been completed, for example the undeveloped Parisian frame story.
Vogel’s Hebrew is that of a cosmopolitan Jew written about 100 years ago; it is fresh and full of linguistic innovations, and for the Hebrew readers among us, the novel is a real treasure for this reason as well.

Viennese Romance is based in part on the author's life story, which may be why Vogel made sure to encrypt it between his notes. Decades later it was discovered in his estate by Israeli researcher and author Lilach Nethanel, and was first published only in 2012.

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