Cynthia Ozick, 90, a native New Yorker whose parents were Russian immigrants, has had an impressive literary career. According to Wiki, she's written six novels, seven collections of short fiction, eight essay collections, and a play. Along her journey, she has received many awards. In a recent donation to the floating book shop, a copy of her
The Messiah of Stockholm came my way. I loved the premise but found the going occasionally tedious and the writing difficult. It is the story of a twice-divorced loner, an orphan of WWII who grew up in Sweden. He believes his father was Polish literary icon Bruno Schulz, who was murdered by a Nazi. The protagonist, a reviewer of obscure books, is obsessed with finding a lost manuscript,
The Messiah. The owner of a local book shop sends a woman who purports to be the daughter of Schulz to him. She claims to have the manuscript. Is it true or a hoax? That is the surface of the novel. Identity and existentialism lie beneath. Only 144 pages, it seemed longer. Ozick is on a higher intellectual plain than I, so I might have missed a lot. Fortunately, the work led me to a search on Schulz, who may have become a worldwide literary giant if not for the evil of The Third Reich. He had at least two short story collections published, and now several exist in English, as well as a book of his letters. I'm hoping one comes my way some day. Ozick dedicates the book to American literary icon Philip Roth, who helped bring Schulz's work to the USA. Ten users at Amazon have rated
The Messiah..., forging to a consensus of 3.6 on a scale of ten. They got more out of the novel, which was published in 1987, than I. Schulz was also an artist. A mural of his was discovered beneath something painted over it. Restored, it's in his hometown, Drohobycz, which is now part of the Ukraine. Here it is:
Andy Reid again came up short, despite the skill of young QB Patrick Mahomes, and Brady and Belichick, as usual, came up huge. The AFC seemingly hasn't changed much the past five years. As for the controversial non-call on pass interference in the Saints-Rams game, this has been going on ever since I starting watching the NFL in the early '60's. The league will never get to a satisfying consistency on the issue. Egregious fouls are occasionally overlooked, and ticky-tack ones are often flagged. The same goes for holding by offensive linemen, the enforcement of which has always seemed willy-nilly. The Super Bowl is a great match-up on paper. I expect the betting line to be thin, and the game to be high-scoring. I recently said I was not impressed with Rams QB Jared Goff. I watched highlights of the game at youtube. He was awesome. Kudos.
Apparently, the deep freeze will last only one day. I filled time redeeming recyclables and doing a thorough vacuuming of the apartment, and tackling a very hard crossword puzzle. I wanted to let the old Hyundai run for a bit, but it wouldn't start, although the battery, which is new, appears fine. I bought some stuff to de-ice gas line freeze. I hope that does the trick.
My Amazon Author page: https://www.amazon.com/Vic-Fortezza/e/B002M4NLJE
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