Autobiographical Writings 'at Its IIitihst User
Gi
A- Ceiitint
:Rabin - Honoured -aTtlifiner
of Presidents Conference
her breast, and explained to her
If a reviewer is to judge auto- so extensive that what Gibvon has I Dead," depicts not only life in the
NEW YORK (JTA)—maj. Gen.
that what she lacked in courage
biographical writing on the basis done is create an Americas. epic. ; f amily but the tragedies that were
Yitzhak Rabin was the guest of
her
mother
made
up
for
in
stu-
marked
by
deaths—all
interlinked
Pod-
of the success of Norman
In "A Mass for the Dead," pub-
honor at a reception March 7 at the
pidity, but the girl went home to
horetz's "Making It," it should lished by Atheneum, Gibson offers i n a persofial history that tran-
Conference of Presidents of Major
her anyway."
serve as encouragement to others his readers an interesting canvas. scends parochialism.
American Jewish Organizations.
seeking literary success. There- He takes them through the New
Rabbi Herschel Schachter, chair-
describing
the
Jewish
in-laws'
In
Gibson tells about his high school
fore "A Mass for the Dead" by -York areas, his family "having es- days when he was "half at home background Gibson poetically re- man of the conference, greeted
William Gibson draws unusual at- caped piecemeal out of Harlem in a student body so multitudin- views historical Jewish back- Rabin in the name of the 22 na-
tention because of the pattern it 'before the Jews and colored came ously Semitic that on Jewish holi- grounds. Other experiences with tional Jewish agencies which com-
pursues. But Gibson's was written in - and across the Bronx and onto, days the classrooms and corridors the Jewish cult define a deep in- prise the conference. It was Ra-
simultaneously with the period of the lawns of New Jersey . . ." He were as if plague-stricken, deserted terest in the universal in the mind bin's first appearance before an
the Podhoretz reminiscences and shows vividly the effects of mixed even of teachers," and while re- of the poetic writer, author of American Jewish group since he
not only stands on its own merits marriages, of his Catholic mother ferring to 4;000 years of Judaeo- prize-winning essays, of acclaimed presented his credentials to Pres-
but matches "Making It" Besides. and Protestant father—each pow- Christian dogma he comments that verses, whose reminiscences make ident Johnson at the White House
Gibson's assumes a role. all its erful in respect to their attitudes "between family and school my of his autobiography a noteworthy -
THE DETROIT JEWISH HEWS
own—dealing with a long trail in and their social views, his mother soul was stretched like a rubber chronicle and an example of im-
22—Friday, March 15, 1968
family affairs much more than his especially strong in facing life's band.
pressive writing.
personal, portraying an era during problems and th many affairs in
While there eventually were
which there was the experience of which her kin ecome involved.
Jewish in-laws in his family,
i led with the And there eventually enter the Jew- the
religious feelings I:2e
he tells about his acquaintances
social as wells itical, indicat- • ish in-laws.
in those early years, "all Jews"
ing family relationships on levels
In this entire chronicle of a
— which was "baffling to my par-
(ARBETER RING)
family's experiences, in all of the
ents." Then he writes: "My first
autobiographical incidents, there
beloved was a petite bourgeoise
A Jewish Secular Environment
are no prejudices to mar the rap-
with a slavic face and posterior,
for the 3, 4 and 5-year-olds
' idly moving events. Gibson's
for whom I gallantly spread out
mother, Florence Agnes Dore, is
a handkerchief much dirtier than
Qualified Teachers
an especially powerful character,
the step she was to sit on, and
, just as the author's father Iry
New 2 Day Class Being Formed
too small by half, but I yearned
Gibson, with whom there are
upon her as a comrade, escorted
Now for the Spring Term
some father-son conflicts, emerg-
her to the movies, played the
es in fascinating roles as a de-
FALL — 68 — TERM
piano in her apartment for her
voted bank clerk, in the interests
smiling parents, and was stunned
Limited Number of Openings
he shares with family and those
when she wrote me I could come
in which he differs.
Available for Its 2, 3 & 5 Day Classes
no more; I phoned her, she said
It is in Gibson's mother that her mother didn't approve of me,
major interest will emerge in this I said why, why, and learned I
impressive account of an eminent
was a goy. It was a bruise from
KE 7 - 5440
18340 W. 7 Mile Rd.
writer's life. She is described as
which I could not quickly re-
having believed that "Catholic cover, and two or three mournful
schooling resulted in illiteracy."
afternoons I took the subway trip
into her neighborhood to haunt
She ascribed it to "too much time
the lots along her street, until I
spent
on
religion."
His
mother
had,
from the makers of Mar-Pary
later in life, become an aid to a
waylaid her coming from school
Kosher Parve Margarine
Jewish woman: "It was an ortho-
with an armful of books against
dox household, and my mother
learned to run it in strict •ob-
servance of the law. She bought
melts from a kosher butcher to
salt and rinse, mastered the cook-
ery of such esoretica as kreplach
and gefilte fish, kept the milche-
dike and fleishedike dishes sepa-
rate, handled the money on Satur-
days when her lady could not touch
it, lived in a rhythm of ancient
holy days and customs, bar mitz-
va. seder, shiva, and, much im-
pressed by Mosaic cleanliness,
mailed to me in Kansas bars of
SPODE SERVICE FOR EIGHT
white kitchen soap dyed with scar-
40 pieces. "Nordic" pattern,
let Hebrew letters: familiarity in-
bone china. Distinctive white,
bred contempt, and she had
bordered in gold. $200 value.
washed my mouth of its childhood
obscenities, so the word `kike' was
forever cleansed from hers."
Decorated Spode Ceremonial
When his mother became ill, it
was this Jewish lady who cared
SEDER PLATE
for her. took her to Mt. Sinai, pro-
Bone china, in Israeli blue,
vided the best medical care, held
edged with gold. A $35 value
her hand to comfort tier.
with presentation case.
There is Impressive charm in
the manner in which this and
other relationships are described
by Gibson who reveals a re-
markable memory and also an
inheritance of family lore. He
shows a knowledge of the Bible
and as a poet he was impressed
by the Psalms. There is, as an
instance, this gem in his descrip-
tion of the quest for life: "Daily
I hear a whisper in me of the
first and holiest commandment,
Thou shalt not die. Not in our
, time, but one day when there is
silence in heaven about the space
SEDER PLATE
of half an hour, all the people
will voice their right to live in a
with Presentation Case
joyous shout, and the pillars
come tumbling down. States,
churches, armies, banks, schools,
edifice upon edifice cemented in
the blood of our bowing to the
hammer, will lie in a rubble;
the world will be born again as
a comedy whose blessed are
the living. In that day, great men
who
invite us to die for causes
SEE
will charm the c h i l d r en as
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not die, but live, and declare the
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There is poetry throughout this
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vealing chapters of an interesting
See your plumber, appliance dealer, or any Edison office.
family life, and this "I shall not
—all-vegetable, poly-
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die" stems from the Psalmist's
unsaturated. Delicious, tool
influence. Just as the title of the
autobiography, "A Mass for the
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