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asher553It was hiding on a bookshelf in a far corner of my apartment. I've started re-reading the collection, beginning with Agnon's debut story (his 'signature story' as the collection calls it, because the title is connected with his pen name), 'Agunot'. It is a complex and haunting story about a mismatched bride and bridegroom in the Land of Israel; there is a 'love triangle' of sorts between the bride Dinah, the hired artisan Ben Uri, and Ben Uri's wondrous Torah ark (to which he develops an almost Pygmalion-like attachment).
The collection includes stories representing a cross-section of Agnon's career, including his stories of the Land of Israel (he first made Aliyah to Jaffa in 1908), of Germany (where he lived from 1913 to 1929), and of his native Buczacz, which occupied much of Agnon's writing after that city's destruction in the holocaust.
It's an auspicious time for me to renew my acquaintance with S.Y. Agnon, as this Sunday is the fast of Tisha b'Av, which Agnon claimed as his birthday.
The collection includes stories representing a cross-section of Agnon's career, including his stories of the Land of Israel (he first made Aliyah to Jaffa in 1908), of Germany (where he lived from 1913 to 1929), and of his native Buczacz, which occupied much of Agnon's writing after that city's destruction in the holocaust.
It's an auspicious time for me to renew my acquaintance with S.Y. Agnon, as this Sunday is the fast of Tisha b'Av, which Agnon claimed as his birthday.
