Two Novellas, by David Vogel, a Hebrew writer who was murdered
during the Holocaust, has the benefit of having for the first time in English
translation his first published work, In
the Sanatorium. The other novella, Facing the Sea, has been published
previously in English, both in Vogel’s collected work, and in collections of Hebrew
writing.
David Vogel was a pivotal figure in Hebrew
modernism. These two prose works feature
some of the preoccupations of modernist works.
In the Sanitarium, in the vein of The
Magic Mountain, questions the assumption of health and illness, and the manner
in which they are treated. These themes,
in turn, reflect upon the health, or lack of health, of European Society at
large.
Facing the Sea
confronts atavistic sexuality in a way similar, but not identical, the D.H.
Lawrence. Both Lawrence and Vogel viewed
sex as the major imperative of people’s motivations, but for Lawrence, the
redemptive force of eroticism far outweighed its conflicts. For Vogel, sex has a largely degenerative effect
on people, despite its great draw.
These translations give English readers the opportunity to
see how an early Hebrew writer tackled very current issues in an ancient
language speedily moving toward modernity.
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