The Missing Jew: New and Selected Poems [Paperback]

Rodger Kamenetz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1992

A former featured selection of the Jewish Book Club

A poetic examination, as humorous as poignant, of the blessings and curses of Jewish heritage, focusing on how the American Jew has lost his religious and cultural identity through assimilation.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Kamenetz's poems whirl and shake on the page. He is the poet of the living history of unspeakable names and his book...sings with dark wit the tales of tough family spirits. --Louise Erdrich, author of Love Medicine

These are very exciting and original poems...a secret and almost intimate meeting place of English and Hebrew. --Yehuda Amichai, author of A Life of Poetry, 1948-1994 and Open Closed Open: Poems

About the Author

Rodger Kamenetz was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1950. He graduated from Yale University; he also studied at The Johns Hopkins University and Stanford University. He was a recipient of an NEA Fellowship in Literature in 1992. His poetry, essays, and fiction have appeared in a dozen major anthologies and in numerous periodicals. Kamenetz currently teaches English and creative writing at Louisiana State University, in Baton Rouge. He has published three books of poems, Nympholepsy, The Missing Jew, and Stuck, and an autobiography, Terra Infirma. Since the publication of The Jew in the Lotus, he has become known for his work in Jewish-Buddhist dialogue. His most recent book of prose is Stalking Elijah: Adventures with Today's Jewish Mystical Masters.

Product Details

• Paperback: 102 pages
• Publisher: Time Being Books (September 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1877770574
• ISBN-13: 978-1877770579
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,161,699 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Rodger Kamenetz lives in New Orleans where he works as a dream therapist. His journeys have taken him to Dharamsala, India where he witnessed an historic dialogue between rabbis and the Dalai Lama that he recounted in The Jew in the Lotus, and to rural Vermont where he met the dream teacher Marc Bregman of North of Eden, as told in his History of Last Night's Dream. His latest book, Burnt Books, is a dual biography of Franz Kafka and Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav and also recounts his journey to the grave of the rebbe in Uman in Ukraine along with tens of thousands of Jewish pilgrims.

For more information about Rodger Kamenetz, visit his website at http://kamenetz.com, or meet him on Facebook, or follow him on twitter at
www.twitter.com/Jewinthelotus

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent work from a foremost Jewish poet, July 5, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Missing Jew: New and Selected Poems (Hardcover)

I picked this up on a whim after taking a class on Jewish Mysticism. I was not to be disappointed. Rodger Kamenetz has a style that is unlike many of today's modern poets. While many of them try to shock and confuse, Mr. Kamenetz speaks simply and concisely. The beauty of his poetry is in its images, not its concepts.

In order to really get the most out of this book, a basic knowledge of Judaism is needed (and some knowledge of the Kabbalah recommended).

There are no books that match this one...all I can recommend is to read all of Mr. Kamenetz's works!