The narrative delves into the complex themes of friendship, nature, and faith through the lens of Ezra Stern, who confronts the legacy of his estranged friend, Abel. After inheriting Abel's property following his sudden death, Ezra embarks on a journey to unravel the mystery of Abel's reclusive life. As he immerses himself in Abel's writings, the layers of their friendship unfold, revealing both familiarity and profound alienation, ultimately leading to an exploration of intimacy amidst loss and isolation.
"His language is crystal clear, and on the surface one observes, in a sense, no other aim than to be accurate, lucid, and suitable to the subject. And yet dreams, visions of measureless depth, are conveyed beneath the serene mirror of this pure stream of language. One peers into it and is spellbound by beauty and originality" --Max Brod in Die Neue (Rundschau 1921) Translated from German by Jon Calame and Seth Rogoff. Story index: The Judgement. A Story The Stoker. A Fragment The Bucket-Rider In the Penal Colony Great Noise The First Chapter of "Richard and Samuel" by Max Brod and Franz Kafka The Air Show at Brescia
Exploring the interplay between dreams and power, this book examines how dream representations and interpretations can both uphold and disrupt authoritarian structures. It introduces the idea of the dreamscape as a chaotic, anarchistic space devoid of stable identity, emphasizing its transformative qualities. The analysis is grounded in Daoist philosophies, particularly the concept of the "transformation of things," highlighting the fluidity and instability inherent in dreams and their potential to challenge established hierarchies.
Fiction. Sy Kirschbaum has spent almost twenty years in Prague translating legendary Czech dissident Jan Horak's samizdat masterpiece, Blue, Red, Gray. On the cusp of finishing, he is called back to his Maine hometown to see his troubled former lover, Ida Fields, now the wife of their childhood friend Gabe Slatky. But before he can see her, Sy must meet with Gabe for an evening at a local bar, an encounter that becomes a test of their old friendship and their dueling accounts of reality. In the conversation that follows, narratives of past and present--of art and life--interweave with perfect inevitability, yet with unpredictable, even shocking consequences, spiraling Sy and Gabe into confusion, doubt, and despair, without quite eroding, perhaps, the possibility of hope. FIRST, THE RAVEN: A PREFACE is a quietly yet profoundly radical work, as ingenious as a print by Escher or a Möbius strip: the Reader must glide along its whole immaculately ramified length before realizing how deeply life, despite its unceasing, nearly flawless appearance of normalcy, is upside down.
