i'm back. for now. revised
busy summer. . . . working as a temp editorial assistant on the Encyclopedia of the Jews of Eastern Europe (Yale, 2008) at YIVO (www.yivo.org). pretty cool stuff. digging up old books published primarily in pre-war Eastern Europe. also photos of such luminaries as the Singer brothers, Y.L Peretz, Chaim Weizmann. . ..and the less famous, the unidentifiable--a child, a bride, an elementary school class. most of them forever forgotten. . .also working at the milken archives of american jewish music (www.milkenarchive.org) . . . less digging, more proofreading, still fun.
and on the side i try to read and also watch movies and explore the city. some highlights so far:
i read the piano teacher by elfriede jelinek. so if i had to give my impression in a couple of sentences i'd say this:
Elfirede Jelinek approaches her subject, the human bond, with a brutal honesty that cuts to the heart of what it is to be human. This book focuses on the social creature and its struggle to become reconciled with the inexplicable pull of human relationships. Jelinek pushes past the safe comfort zone as she delves into the psyche of a distrubed woman and explores the nature of the character's interactions and relations with others--namely, her mother and her lover. What she finds is that the bonds that create also often destroy. It is in this struggle to define the self through its ties with others that one moves into dangerous terrain where the lines easily become blurred, so that it is difficult to tell where one person ends and another begins, where trust becomes vulernability and love a violation.
i watched ordinary people--i read the book a very long time ago and remember liking it though clearly not enough to remember much of it. but the movie, i think, is even better than the book. with great subtlety it conveys this truth: internal chaos and emotional turmoil is not class or status conscious. it can creep up on anyone at any time anywhere. and another truth it seems to convey is that the tragedy of loss is not limited to the immediate loss but to the inevitable spiral downward that ensues: a child dies, another tries to kill himself, a mother withdraws, a father breaks down and a family ultimately implodes onto itself.
onto lighter things: i attended a mozart concert in washington square park. it just so happened that the weather was unbearably hot and humid, but it was a very beautifully orchestrated concert. i watched broadway under the stars in central park, and just the sight of so many people gathered on the great lawn was enough to set my heart a-flutter.
the clouds seem to be lifting, for now, and i'm looking forward to spending time in the sun in new york. until i set off for barcleona!
and on the side i try to read and also watch movies and explore the city. some highlights so far:
i read the piano teacher by elfriede jelinek. so if i had to give my impression in a couple of sentences i'd say this:
Elfirede Jelinek approaches her subject, the human bond, with a brutal honesty that cuts to the heart of what it is to be human. This book focuses on the social creature and its struggle to become reconciled with the inexplicable pull of human relationships. Jelinek pushes past the safe comfort zone as she delves into the psyche of a distrubed woman and explores the nature of the character's interactions and relations with others--namely, her mother and her lover. What she finds is that the bonds that create also often destroy. It is in this struggle to define the self through its ties with others that one moves into dangerous terrain where the lines easily become blurred, so that it is difficult to tell where one person ends and another begins, where trust becomes vulernability and love a violation.
i watched ordinary people--i read the book a very long time ago and remember liking it though clearly not enough to remember much of it. but the movie, i think, is even better than the book. with great subtlety it conveys this truth: internal chaos and emotional turmoil is not class or status conscious. it can creep up on anyone at any time anywhere. and another truth it seems to convey is that the tragedy of loss is not limited to the immediate loss but to the inevitable spiral downward that ensues: a child dies, another tries to kill himself, a mother withdraws, a father breaks down and a family ultimately implodes onto itself.
onto lighter things: i attended a mozart concert in washington square park. it just so happened that the weather was unbearably hot and humid, but it was a very beautifully orchestrated concert. i watched broadway under the stars in central park, and just the sight of so many people gathered on the great lawn was enough to set my heart a-flutter.
the clouds seem to be lifting, for now, and i'm looking forward to spending time in the sun in new york. until i set off for barcleona!
posted by shoshana at 9:03 PM
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