Unto the Soul (Magill’s Literary Annual 1991-2005)
At a glance:
- Author: Aharon Appelfeld
- First Published: 1994
- Type of Work: Novel
- Time of Work: Late nineteenth century
- Setting: Western Ukraine
- Principal Characters: Gad, Amalia
- Genres: Long fiction
- Subjects: Nineteenth century, Brothers and sisters, Jews or Jewish life, Jews and Gentiles, Russia or Russian people, Cemeteries, Grocery trade
- Locales: Ukraine
As in previous novels, including For Every Sin (1989), The Healer (1990), and The Immortal Bartfuss (1988), Aharon Appelfeld uses Unto the Soul to explore the drama of Jewishness. The question the novel seems to be most concerned with is, What happens to Jews when they are isolated from their community? This is what happens to Gad, a Jew in his early thirties from Zhadova in the Western Ukraine, who becomes the caretaker of the Cemetery of the Martyrs when his Uncle Arieh, who had the post for many years, dies. The martyrs were the victims of a pogrom, and...
[The entire page is 1757 words long]
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