S
RESTAURANT _
who were children of survivors,
and felt a special connection to
their stories. Beginning with his
first piano teacher, he has also
711,
known many survivors, "more
than most people do.
"Why? I can't answer. It
seems to come up again and
again in people I meet," he says.
Writing this novel was "a way-to
honor some of the people and
stories that have touched my
own life."
Another influence in taking
on this subject, he says, was his
experience teaching at York
University. "I've had courses
where 20 of my students have
said, 'Oh, there's no such thing
as the Holocaust.' It disturbs me
terribly.
"The larger question is, 'Why
do our schools teach so little
history? Why do they require so
little? Whose agenda does that
serve?"' He adds, "The question
of what it means to be a human
Writing this novel was "a way to honor some of
being is at stake."
the people and stories that have touched my
Teleky, who speaks with an
own life," says its author.
intensity that many would say
sounds Jewish, believes that
"That's not what I wrote. I wrote a
writers have a "moral responsibility to
book
about a woman, an isolated fig-
represent the complexities of the
ure,
living
among other immigrants."
world. You don't have to have a moral
He
points
out that many of his
theory you're arguing for. That makes
Jewish
friends
live far from family, or
for bad fiction."
don't have families that root them, or
It is Deb, Rosie's overweight sister
might be alienated from religion.
who enters contests as a hobby and
"I don't see those figures reflected in
repeatedly wins free trips, studies
a
lot
of contemporary fiction," he says,
Yiddish in New York and attends sec-
noting
that he has always been drawn
ond-generation meetings as well as
to
figures
who are outsiders. "Rosie,"
synagogue, who helps Rosie to see
he
says,
"was
an outsider." The arche-
that her background matters.
type
of
the
"wandering
Jew," as Rosie
The two sisters travel together to
describes herself at one point in the-
Budapest and visit the building and
novel, interests him very much.
courtyard where their mother grew
Published in 1998 to splendid
up. "Something in the quality of the
reviews, The Paris Years of Rosie Kamin
light seemed familiar to Rosie, almost
is now available in paperback. Teleky,
comforting," Teleky writes.
who
has already finished another
In a startling scene in the book,
novel
and is at work on a third,
Rosie cuts a 6-pointed star from the
speaks
with love for Rosie. "I have
back of a bright yellow blouse and
this
suspicion
that she may appear in
sews it onto her raincoat, which she
a book again. She's a character who
wears throughout Paris. Teleky speaks
wants me to go back to her," he says.
of the time he wrote that scene as a
The Ribalow Prize was established
shocking moment for him.
to
honor
the memory of Harold U.
"It just happened one day while I
Ribalow,
a noted editor, literary critic
was typing," he recalls. He then
and
anthologist.
Past winners include
stopped writing, unsure whether to
Max
Apple,
Francine
Prose, Anita
leave it in, and tried jumping ahead
Desai
and
Louis
Begley.
This year's
but couldn't go beyond it. The power-
judges were Elie Wiesel, N. Scott
ful episode remains. And Rosie is
Momaday and Anne Michaels, last
changed; it's as though the star pene-
year's Ribalow recipient. Runners-up
trated her heart.
for the 1999 award were The Archivist
Teleky observes that there's a lot of
by Martha Cooley and Flora's Suitcase
contemporary fiction about Jewish
by
Dalia Rabinovich.
family life, some of it very negative.
eitaura
featuring
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