Friday,; January h6;; 1956
J E W1S H W ESTt R^4v B U'L LET IN'
Poge Seyen
Bulletin booksMlf
Jewish Life ier North trumpet'; 'Anastasia'
By ABE AVEBBACH
5,000 musical scores contributecT to Israel
Th^ PiU^ of Sa«^by Albert l^emmi; Critexiosi^ Fress; Blew York; 342 pp. '
Here Is a novel on Jiewish life in North Africa, that is different in the sense of its locale and its exotic color.
Yet it is not so different in the trials and tribulations of Jewish living in the Diaspora.
Albert Memmi, the author of "Pillar of Salt," was born in Tuhls on December 15, 1920, where he spent most of his youth. During the war, as a Jew, he was put in a forced-labor camp in Algeria. He managed to escape and at the end of'the war he turned up in Paris where he received his degree in Philosophy at the Sorbonne. Since then he has returned' to his native Tunis where he teaches school. In his spare time he devotes himself to woi-k in Social Psychology.
i;he "Pillar of Salt", obviously autpbiographical^ was a sensation In Paris on it& publication. Agk even greater audience acclaimed it on its translation into English (from the French) by Edouard Roditi. The theme, not by any means new, concerns itself with youth in bur time "seeking a place for itself in the sun." However; it differs from other novels in the same vein in being marked by an extreme deT featist attitude. ;
it is no wonder that Memmi was acclaimed and received with such ardor by Albert Camus, Sartre and the whole hierafchjr of the Existentialist Group. HereJ to our knSwled^e, is the first Jei^iSh Existeritialist in print.
To the existentialist^ the world is one vast void-—roads> lead nowhere—.and when he has shed his cultural and emotional cloak he is left naked with disgust and nausea.
As a Jew, it was easy for our hero to fall into character. Was not the jew in the Diaspora seeking some identification in society
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and cohbtantiy 'being rebuffed?
Take the name with which our protagonist; is blessed in this novel: "Alexandre Mordekhsi Benilouche." The first name "Alexandre'*, French, the oiEfir cial rulers;*^ Mordekhai," obviously Jewish; "Benilouche,*' Arabic. It is perhaps bad enough to be saddled with a dual identity as a Jew, but here, you hit the jackpot with no less r than a triple idenljty.
From h^e on -in the novel takes its course. The> son of a poor> artisan, we follow the hero throughout the reeking alleys and filthy streets pf the native quarters. Childhood teiror brings him to a stunted adolescense.
In trying to grasp some measure of recognition and seciirily he must break his bonds with the Jewish religion and escsipe from the ghettb, and so, out goes "Mor-dekhai.'*
But the feeble, yaccillating Vichy Government, stiil riddled with anti-Semitism, holds even . less hope, so out goes "Alexandre.'*-
The, Arab pogroms and primi-tiveness convince him that in the Moslem world there is no place for him either, goodbye ^'BenilducKe.'^
Finally he concludes: "I am a Jew who has broken with Jewish religion and the Ghetto. I made my break with oiu: blind alley-—because it was but a childish dream . . . with ambition and thj^ ini9icUe^^la^ they were unjust and their ideals questionable; with the city—because it lives in Oriental medievalism and has no love for me; •vvith the West—because It lies and is selfish. Each time part of me has disintegrated."
An so like Lot's, wife, he has looked back and died (thereby the title: "The Puiar of Salt"). Again, as in most of Sartre-like characters, who divest. themselves of all rationalizing emotions, there is nothing left but.de^air.
Out Of pain and deep reflection this is an honest and sincere novel. But we can ask the author: (in spite of this Jewish existentialist approach, need divided Jewish loyalties end in despair? We think not. In the face and fact of our Jewish State and a Jewish resurgence, is there not some hope? We look forward to the author's answer in his forthcoming, work.
From, a literary point of view, "The PiUar of Salt" is a loosely woven fabric, thinly disguising the threads that hold the various ^episodes together. It has also a touch .of unconscious humor. Provocative and informative, Albert Memmi is worth listening to again.
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SOUND THE GREAT TRUMPET—by M. Z. Fraisk; Whit-tier Books; 415 pp.; $5.00.
M. Z. EVank, noted Hebraist and one of the best in-
INSPECTtNG ONE OF THE CATALOGUES of, the musical library of some 5,000 orchestral scores and ports which Mr. J.^B.^B^ for Israel Institutions for use Jn Israel,, are, from
Mendel L^^ Direetbr ol the>yknierican Fund, Mr. Barron, L M. Bloomfield, Q.C.> president of th^
Fund's Montreal Chapter, and Yehuda Goulan, Consul General of Israel. The four ore pictured following tM Official ceremony of presentdtion, held in Zionist auditorium, Montreal. In background con be seen o few of the 15 targe pocking-cases in which the unique collection is being shipped to Israel. jv
formed men on Zionism and the History of Israel, m^st have given much time arid devotion, in fashioning a literary story of Israel from the early days of the pioneers £ind Political Zionism to the txirbulent
present.
All these stories,- episodes and essays strikingly portray the ^growing pains of this small nation and the difficult integration of the various groups and cultures. ^
How heroic and uncluttered they seem to us now^ those stirring tales of. early pioneers whose problems wiere tangible ones in the sh£^e the desert, the svvamp and the Air a b. Throughout the eyes and the recorded Actings c£ Boris Smilan-sky v/ho settled in Palestine in
1880, this dramtic phase is nobly portrayed. . Another stirring picture of the
. early 19Q0 period and one of tlje best in the book, is by Ephriam Auerbach (no relation to the re-
^ viewer) who Ms now on the staff of a New York newspaper.
With Statehood achieved we see a certain amount. of disillu-isionment in the Kibbutz. A waye of immigrants from the pirimi-tiT/e Moslem world arrives con-;-fused and misunderstood. You ev€}n detect that the Yishuv looks down on these Orientals and you can't help feeling that M. Z. Frank contributes to this condition albeit unconsciously — in some <)f his selections.
Less, impressive are some of the contributions of the Israeli-born Writers such as Shamir^
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Resuks of Jbwosb playwriti^ contest
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MONTREAL, — Alexander Ramati (8964 Wonderland Avenue) of Hollyw6od, (Jali-fornia, was declared the winner of a $300 first prize for his three-act play entitled "Survival," in English, on a theme of Jewish content, in an announcement made recently by Bernard S. Berlin, President of the Jewish Community Drama Guild, in Montreal, sponsors of a play-writing con-' test inaugurated in February 1955, and open to writers throughout the world.
Julian M. Drachman (Fem-brooke Street, Manhattan Beach) of Brooklyn, New York, won the $100 first prize for his one-act play entitled "The Slave of God's Servant," in the same international \contest.
A record number of 26 plays in English, Yiddish and Hebrew were submitted by playwrights in Israel, England, the United States, France and Canada.
Mr. Berlin reviewed 'Survival" as a strong.and interesting play set in a European Village at the time of the Qerman invasion when a family of Jews sought sanctuary with a peasant who reluctantly. concealed them.
"Surviv^"^ has strong character delineation; the conflict becomes more tense as the characters develop and the iriterest is sustained throughout. The dialogue is powerful, the play proceeds logically- and the conflict develops on both levels.
Mr. Berlin is arranging for the world premiere to take place in Montreal early in January 1956, and to be produced by a company pf the b'est^Montreal talent.
"The Slave of God's Servant," according to the Drama Guild President, is powerfully written, strong, tense and interesting to
the end. Because the language is formial, it would play beautifully. The characters are full of color and when produced by the Drama Guild, it will be done in . costume.
V Pleased with the success of the first annual playwriting contest, the second contest will start immediately with a closing date in/ the Spring of 1956. Complete rules and regulations of tliis contest may be-obtained by writing to the Jewish Community Drama Guild, Post Office'Box 56, Snow-don Station, Montreal 29, Canada.
Tabib,- and Mosenson. Th^ Israeli war, with the Arabs treated in bravura style, is somehow, from this early perspective, unconvincing. , '
This volume could not hsive been v/ritten without the contributions of Israel's-"Greats": S. J. Agnori, Jabotinsky, Hen r i e t a Sz^ld, Ben Gurion and others. On the whole this is i;he liest book to date to come out of Israel. It gives us a composite literary, picture of the State and its people.
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ANASTASIA'S DAUGHTER—by Gaie Taylor; JEtyerson Press; 256 pp.; $3.00. '
A very simple little story about a very complex problem is presented by Miss Taylor with sympathy and understanding. It is the "growing ,up'' story of Anna, her romance, her devotion to her Doukhobor parents and her longing and seeking to become a real Canadian.
Anna's romance and her tug-of-war loyalty between traditions of her honie and the world outside is highlighted against the backdrop of Doukhobor. strife. Miss Taylor in a foreword to her novel explains the difference between the fanatical extremism of the "Sons of Freedom" sect and the independent type of Doukhobor as portrayed by Anna's family. ■
This is an interesting story picture about a segment of Canadian life, particularly iri British Columbia, that should/prove of value to youiig and old alike.
SAMHYMAN
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