
BERNHARDT
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Yoel Hoffmann
Fiction, 1989
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In a series of perfectly crystallized segments that are a cross between prose poems and cinematic clips, Yoel Hoffmann reconstructs the world of Bernhardt, a fifty-year-old widower from Berlin who has settled in Palestine. With perfect tone and rhythm, with an uncanny vision and sense of lyricism, Bernhardt himself becomes a universe containing his own history and the history of his time.
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Rights Sold to:
France, Galaade; Germany, Rowohlt; Israel, Keter; USA, New Directions
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Reviews:
“Full of color and rich with a variety of eccentric heroes, in this book Israel of the 1950s becomes a stirring and exciting place.” – A.B. Yehoshua
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“Hoffmann’s hypnotic prose fuses everyday events and surreal imagery with the lyrical intensity of a Chagall painting.” – Publishers Weekly
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“Yoel Hoffmann, one of Israel’s brightest and most unusual contemporary fiction writers, creates a powerful and moving novel.” – World Literature Today
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“[A] further persuasive illustration of the genius of one of Israel’s finest contemporary writers.” – Kirkus Reviews
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