Passage from Home (Masterworks of Modern Jewish Writing Series) [Paperback]

Isaac Rosenfeld (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1988 | ISBN-10: 0910129754 | ISBN-13: 978-0910129756 | Edition: 1st Markus Wiener Pub. ed

This outstanding family novel, set in a Jewish neighborhood of Chicago, is "the fullest articulation of the generational conflict between Jewish fathers and sons," writes Alexander Bloom in his 1986 book "Prodigal Sons". The central character, a fifteen year old boy in rebellion against the petit bourgeois values of his family, engineers an affair between his flamboyant aunt and his easy-going Gentile cousin by marriage. He then leaves his father and moves into the house of this new couple, where he experiences the excitement and problem of an open relationship.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

"I remember the year in which I first felt respect for human intelligence. I was 14, a precocious child, as sensitive as a burn. Human intelligence meant my own," provocatively begins this classic bildungsroman set in Chicago of the early 1930s. Best remembered as a "New York intellectual" with a regular critical presence in the pages of the Partisan Review and the New Republic, Rosenfeld pits alter ego Bernard Miller against his father in an age-old generational battle: "I knew what fathers must feel when children break away; when I should have children, I would feel the same. For fathers, deep in themselves, were still sons, and still remembered the love they had broken; and sons were forever preparing to enact, and regret, an unchanging transgression." Bernard is smitten by his aunt Minna and the bohemian, erotic lifestyle she represents, and drawn to the unflappable Willy, a gentile cousin by marriage. He contrives an affair between them and, after an argument with his father, moves in with the couple. This was a 28-year-old Rosenfeld's first novel, originally issued in 1946 (he died a decade later). Although the hero's rebellion and subsequent disenchantment with his "adoptive" parents are by now a familiar theme and Minna's pariah status within the family much dated, many a modern, alienated youth will find his tale of woe appealing. Particularly sparkling are depictions of Jewish family life and of Bernard's longing, unfulfilled, for a brand of Judaism less diluted than the one he has inherited.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Rosenfeld writes thoughtfully with an emotional understanding" -- San Francisco Chronicle

"The prose is warm, neat and eminently readable -- NYTimes

"This novel is a fulfillment" -- Irving Howe, Commentary

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 300 pages
• Publisher: Markus Wiener Pub; 1st Markus Wiener Pub. ed edition (February 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0910129754
• ISBN-13: 978-0910129756
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,131,747 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars As sensitive as a burn, May 10, 2005

By 

Shalom Freedman "Shalom Freedman" (Jerusalem,Israel) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Passage from Home (Masterworks of Modern Jewish Writing Series) (Paperback)

This autobiographical novel of the coming to age of a sensitive intellectual is the early poetic work of a writer of great promise who unfortunately died young.