Kirjahaku

Originally published in 1981 and now reissued with a new preface by Randolph Splitter, this volume examines Proust’s novel A la recherche du temps perdu from a psychoanalytic viewpoint, showing that Marcel, the central character, like the novel itself, is characterized by an unstable equilibrium of opposing forces, so that he wishes both to dissolve the boundaries between inner and outer worlds, and to maintain divisions and defenses. Instead of trying to force the text into a rigid theoretical structure this reading of Proust’s novel illuminates it by confronting and re-examining the problems that Freudian theory itself addresses. In considering these problems, the author also takes into account the findings of modern French psychoanalysis and literary criticism, referring particularly to the work of Jacques Lacan and Jacques Derrida.

Originally published in 1981 and now reissued with a new preface by Randolph Splitter, this volume examines Proust’s novel A la recherche du temps perdu from a psychoanalytic viewpoint, showing that Marcel, the central character, like the novel itself, is characterized by an unstable equilibrium of opposing forces, so that he wishes both to dissolve the boundaries between inner and outer worlds, and to maintain divisions and defenses. Instead of trying to force the text into a rigid theoretical structure this reading of Proust’s novel illuminates it by confronting and re-examining the problems that Freudian theory itself addresses. In considering these problems, the author also takes into account the findings of modern French psychoanalysis and literary criticism, referring particularly to the work of Jacques Lacan and Jacques Derrida.

A child is wounded, a teenage girl goes missing, and a man is kidnapped...In this story about clashing values and the search for connection in a multicultural world, the drummer wakes the faithful during Ramadan in the predominantly Muslim neighborhood of Little Mecca so that they can eat before beginning their daily fast. But in this culturally diverse American city, the Ramadan drummer wakes believers and nonbelievers alike.As anti-Muslim activists picket a community fair, shots ring out and a child is gravely wounded. Police detective Ezra Kaufman--who is dealing with the loss of his wife and seeking some kind of spiritual solace from his Jewish tradition--is assigned to investigate. In the course of his investigation he meets reporter Aisha Hassan, an observant though liberal-minded Muslim who is covering the same story.At a party, the young daughter of a prominent Muslim family initiates a sexual encounter with an older teenage boy. Somebody posts photos of the incident on Facebook, and the girl disappears. Both Ezra and Aisha get involved. Confronting misogyny, homophobia, and the tyranny of teenage cliques, rejecting both fundamentalism and intolerance, Ezra, Aisha, and the others learn that they must chart their own paths toward spiritual meaning and personal connection.

From Vienna in the 1930s to England in the 1940s, and back, The Third Man centers on dispossession, exile, refuge, and the search for justice and humanity. Focusing on two Jewish families as the Holocaust approaches, the book gradually zeroes in on two individuals who survive--individuals who have to make difficult moral choices. Julie Bernstein as a young child is sent by her parents to safety in England; growing up there with a foster family, she must consider and reconsider her multiple allegiances. Ignaz Natanson, a kosher butcher's apprentice, changes his identity and name as he escapes to England and joins the British Army. He returns to Vienna, post-war, to track down the person who epitomizes, for him, what Nazi Youth had done to his home. The novel was inspired by the author's family-whose love of life, of music, of philosophy and history, of justice and ethical dilemmas all inhabit this dark yet beautifully drawn world.The novel could be complete and coherent without its "third man" frame, but the Prologue and Epilogue references to the famous 1949 noir film are distinctive and imaginative; they deepen the significance of the several other episodes. In the end, Ignaz/Nigel recognizes the similarities between himself and the film's Harry Lime (as grifters who sometimes did questionable things). But he also identifies with his own "third man," the one he has tracked with revenge in mind. He recognizes that this man might have been evil, but might instead have been a "poor fool like himself, neither good nor evil, just a confused human being trying to muddle his way through this life."Splitter's novel is not meant to excuse fascism but rather to force readers to examine what gives rise to it and what causes "ordinary" people to be attracted to it. The Third Man presents a rather grim picture of postwar Vienna while questioning its failure to pay attention to the Nazis, or to the Jews who are no longer there. Yet the elements of hope and humanism are real.