At a glance:
- Author: A. B. Yehoshua
- First Published: 1998
- Type of Work: Novel
- Time of Work: 999
- Setting: Rouen, Paris, Verdun, Worms, and the roadways and waterways connecting North Africa and Germany
- Characters: Ben Attar, Abu Lutfi, Raphael Abulafia, Esther-Minna, Retarded young daughter, First wife, Second wife, Elbaz, Elbaz’s young son, Master Yehiel Levitas, Joseph, Abd el-Shafi
- Genres: Long fiction
- Subjects: Voyages, Religion, Paris, Polygamy or bigamy, Trials, Jews or Jewish life, Muslims, Middle Ages, Rabbis
- Locales: Africa, Paris, France, Rouen, France, Verdun, France, Worms, Germany
Because cultures delineate time according to different systems, it is arbitrary and irrational to ascribe essential qualities to a specific decade or century. Under the Mayan calendar, which plots duration in units of fifty-two years, neither “The Gay Nineties” nor “The Roaring Twenties” would have meaning, or existence. Nevertheless, during the final years of what the Gregorian calendar denominates the twentieth century, excitement about the advent of a new millennium pervaded popular culture, even if that new millennium would not begin until January 1, 2001, rather than, as...
(The entire page is 1852 words.)
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