Customer Reviews

Lucky to Be Here

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"My school-days! The silent gliding on my existence - the unseen, unfelt progress of my life - from childhood up to youth! Let me think, as I look back upon that flowing water, now a dry channel overgrown with leaves, whether there are any marks along its course, by which I can remember how it ran." (David Copperfield, Charles Dickens)

Lucky To Be Here is an engaging autobiographical sketch of the author's experiences as a child growing up in Toledo, Ohio. Appropriately lighter in tone and content than some of his other works, Lucky will surely please Dr. Kaufman's many admirers. The winner of numerous awards, including the prestigious BBC Best Play from Europe Award in 1995 -- one might be tempted to describe Mr. Kaufman as a modern day Goethe. His accomplishments in the humanities stretch from positions as a professor of German language and literature at Queens College, professor of American Studies at Kiel University in Germany, professor of music history at Antwerp University, to violinist with the Alabama Symphony Orchestra and the Flemish Opera in Antwerp.

Dr. Kaufman has the ability to transport the reader into the atmosphere of the subject at hand. This is virtually a hallmark of the author's creativity. Consider the following passage from Lucky describing a music recital of children in Toledo, Ohio: "In almost every other seat she could see the dangling feet of some younger brother or sister, bare legs and skinned knees, with long socks at half mast.... Here and there, the odd scarf or mitten had fallen to the floor. There was the hushed sound of a parent whispering in response to the loud outcry of a young uninhibited child. `Mommy, my foot itches.... Who's that little man on the piano?' The porcelain statuette of Beethoven stared unperturbed, ever scowling, as if in preparation for another inevitable rendition of his `Minuet in G.'"

Lucky is much more profound, however, than a mere collection of the author's memories of American life as a new immigrant during the Second World War. It also serves as a social commentary on the prevailing attitudes of various classes of Americans. (The subject of the author's experience in actually escaping Nazi Germany is dealt with in his moving and profound play Last Supper.) Besides Lucky's obvious literary value, it serves as a valuable historical study of the lives of immigrants to the United States during WWII. It would in fact be a useful addition for classroom study as well, although a couple of passages, particularly the opening paragraphs, would probably be inappropriate for many students.

Lucky To Be Here, destined to be recognized for its timeless quality, worthy to be ranked along such great autobiographical works as Down and Out in Paris and London, by George Orwell and perhaps even the semi-autobiographical masterpiece David Copperfield, is yet another literary triumph for its author, Dr. Herbert L. Kaufman.

This, to me, is the author's most accessible and continuous novel, and like his other books, highlights the point at which the personal and universal meet. It is also an often-humorous "coming of age" story, but manages to avoid the sentimentality and overt nostalgia that sometimes mars works of this kind. If you are unfamiliar with Kaufman's work, this is a good place to start.