THE ART OF THOMAS WILMER DEWING
beauty Reconfigured
The newest books by Jewish authors, about Jewish subjects or of
interest to Jewish readers.
'Fragments
An Interior (detail), Thomas Wilmer Dewing: c. I9 I
Nourish your love of beauty with the
spectacular paintings created by American
artist Thomas Wilmer Dewing, one of the
foremost painters of the 19th century.
Binjamin Wilkomirski; Schocken; $20
concert musician and
instrument maker lives
in Switzerland. He thinks
is name is Binjamin
Wilkomirski, and he thinks he
must be around 56 years old. But
of these facts and others he can-
not be sure. For the Holocaust de-
prived him not only of his mother,
father, brothers and language,
but of his entire personal history.
In his stunning memoir, Frag-
ments, Binjamin Wilkomirski re-
constructs the nightmare of his
wartime years. The book is a bit
difficult to follow, for Wilkomirs-
ki has chosen to write it as he re-
members it, as a child. It does
not follow a linear chronology but
skips between times and loca-
tions as one memory triggers an-
other.
Though there may be skepti-
cism regarding the accuracy of a
very young child's memory,
Wilkomirski's recountings are
shockingly detailed, full of al-
most unbearable details.
Through chance and tragic
circumstances, Wilkomirski
finds himself alone at Majdanek
concentration camp at the age of
3. In one of his most chilling rem-
iniscences, he tells of the dis-
cussion between the young boys
in his barracks regarding the
concept of "mother." Some boys
Lynne Avadenka is a Huntington
Woods artist.
NONFICTION
TO BE CHASIDIC:
A CONTEMPORARY GUIDE
don't understand the word's to Krakow after the war to live
in a children's home;
meaning; others are ab-
he leaves Krakow for
solutely convinced there
REVIEW
Switzerland when
were no mothers left any-
Krakow, after the war,
where in the world.
Like other survivors, he stays again becomes a dangerous place
for Jews. In Switzerland, he is
adopted by foster parents, but
his nightmare follows him every-
where.
As a Jew with American
grandparents, I have always'
been drawn to the European ex-
periences of the older Jewish
generation. I have read many
Holocaust accounts and person-
al reminiscences, but never a
book like this. In the same way
that Anne Frank's diary allows
c c s us to focus intimately on one
Jewish life and thereby identify
with that life, Wilkomirski's
cD memoir allows us into the
6 thoughts of one tiny, defenseless
F2' Jewish child at a terrible time in
. the history of the world. We can-
VE -1 not imagine what he has expe-
rienced, so he tells us.
"I wrote these fragments of
Binjamin Wilkomirski's Fragments is
memory to explore both myself
the winner of the 1996 National Jewish
and my earliest childhood; it
Book Award for Autobiography/Memoir.
may also have been an attempt
alive through sheer luck and the to set myself free." Wilkomirs-
compassion of those who look out ki concludes with these words
for him. Sometimes these pro- and we are grateful for them and
tectors have names; sometimes for all he has conveyed to us in
they are other children, some- his powerful and deeply dis-
times adults. He hides hi a peas- turbing book.
ant woman's home; he spends
—Lynne Avadenka
years in Majdanek; he returns
Sunday, January 19, 2 p.m.
Guest speaker is Suzanne Smeaton, gallery
director, Eli Wilner & Co., New York. Free with
museum admission; recommended $4 adults,
$1 children, members free.
Exhibition admission: $4 adults; $1 children,
members free.
Hours: II am.-4 p.m. Wednesdays-Fridays,
I I a.m.-5 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.
utteligan awe, 1:•,-
drrs am adrxrd affitiry
Programs made possible with support from
the Michigan Councillor Arts and Cultural Affairs.
o
whose own brother "committed
suicide" while in Bettelheim's
care — explores the roots and
consequences of Bettelheim's fab-
ricated credentials and patterns
of dishonesty.
By Rabbi Chaim Dalfin; Jason
Aronson Inc.; $30.
How compatible is Torah ob- NEW YORK JEWS AND
servance with the modem world? THE GREAT DEPRESSION:
This question as well as equally UNCERTAIN PROMISE
perplexing ones are discussed by
Rabbi Dalfin, drawing upon of- By Beth S. Wenger; Yale Univer-
ten overlooked sources of Jewish sity Press; $25.
A professor of
history and Torah schol-
Jewish
history,
arship.
Wenger looks at a
generation of immi-
THE CREATION
grants and their
OF DR. B: A
children, facing an
BIOGRAPHY OF
unpredictable
future
BRUNO
in the country paved
BE1TELHEIM
By Richard Pollak; Si
mon & Schuster; $28.
In this expose of one
of the best-known child
psychologists, Pollak —
"A PERFECT MARRIAGE: THE ART OF •
THOMAS WILMER DEWING AND THE FRAME
DESIGNS OF STANFORD WHITE"
The Creation of Dr. B—
Richard Pollak's new
exposé of child
psychologist Bruno
Bettelheim.
THE DETROIT INSTITUTE OF ARTS
5200 Woodward Ave., Detroit, MI 48202
in gold. Publishers Weekly says
"readers interested in the histo-
ry of Jews in New York will ap-
preciate the author's thorough
treatment of a decade of transi-
tion."
NEW IN PAPERBACK
JULIUS KNIPL, REAL ES-
TATE PHOTOGRAPHER:
STORIES
By Ben Katchor; Little, Brown;
$12.95.
The comic strip style of Ben
Katchor has been described as
"Max Beckmann with dialogue
balloons." The protagonist of this
work of "fiction," Julius Knipl —
Yiddish for "nest egg" — simul-
taneously conjures present-day
New York City and that of the
1940s.
— Compiled by
Lynne Konstantin
29203 Northwestern Hwy. • Southfield
(810) 356-5454
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