tj,Q,

4o
ec
ossiiiar

CONEY ISLAND

doesn't travel back to Egypt in some
way. "It's how I understand the world,
how I give a narrative of things."
For Aciman, this is not nostalgia,
which he describes as "the ache to
return." Rather, it's the "mine of infor-
mation" he has to pluck in order to
make sense of the present.
Aciman agrees that his habit of
looking back is something that Jews
have ritualized. The word he uses is
rememoration."
"Remember remembering, remem-
ber your ancestors remembering what
their ancestors remembered. That's
what makes somebody Jewish: You are
invested with memories of other peo-
ple. The crime that no Jew can com-
mit is to forget those memories."
When Aciman, the recipient of a
Whiting Writer's Award and a
Guggenheim fellowship, speaks, it
seems that memory and holiness are
closely aligned.
Last year, he edited a book on a sim-
ilar theme, Letters of Transit: Reflections
on Exile, Identity, Language and Loss
(New Press); it includes essays by Eva
Hoffman, Bharati Mukherjee, Charles
Simic, Edward Said and Aciman.
Earlier this summer, the author was
• named a fellow of the New York
Public Library's Center for Scholars
and Writers for the academic year
beginning this fall. As one of 15 fel-
lows in the program's second year, he'll
have an office at the library and be
paid to work on his writing projects,
which currently include several books:
a novel, a book on Proust and a book
on the Marrano Jews of Spain. He'd
like to write a memoir about his years
in Italy, after leaving Egypt. ❑

Greek and American Cuisine
OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK

154 S. Woodward, Birmingham
(248) 540-8780

Halsted Village
(37580 W. 12 Mile Rd.)
Farmington Hills
(248) 553-2360

"

Andre Aciman:
"I've come back to
Egypt the way only
Jews yearn to go back
to places they couldn't
wait to _flee."

FALSE :P

ANDRE AC111AN

with the shutters down, "the way our
Marrano ancestors had done under the
Spanish Inquisition."
He writes: "It never occurred to us
that a seder in Egypt was a contradic-
tion in terms. ... Everything in history
happens twice, wrote Marx, the first
time as tragedy, the second as farce.
He forgot to add that Jewish history is
repetition, the history of repetition."
Other essays are ruminations on his
love of the sea, a Manhattan bus route,

.

Aciman's sentiments
will resonate for
many readers, even
for those whose exits
from the places of
their childhood
were far less
dramatic.

visiting Bethlehem (another magazine
assignment after Out of Egypt was pub-
lished) and other cities, revisiting a
Greenwich Village cafe, an "island in
time," filled with a mix of memories
and fantasies of old love.
The essays often recall Egypt and
his colorful clan of relatives. The writer
is someone who often likes the promise
of a place more than the place itself.
In his daily life, he explains that
barely 10 minutes go by when he

market and spent six months in France have been able to get in touch with
one another, allowing Hazan to recon-
before being admitted to America.
nect with cousins, and friends, in
Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society
Israel, Canada, France and England.
(HIAS) agreed to sponsor the family's
Although encountering some anti-
immigration to the United States, and
they settled in the Detroit area. Hazan semitism in Detroit in the '60s,
Hazan has seen those atti-
entered Wayne State
tudes ease and is pleased
University and went on to
Right: Toby
its medical school, where he Hazan, age 15, on with the selection of Joseph
the balcony of his Lieberman as the
specialized in psychiatry
Democratic candidate for
Part of Hazan's transition family's home in
Alexandria, Egypt. vice president.
was mastering English.
He hopes the countries
Arabic was the official lan-
surrounding Israel can
guage in Egypt. Many other
change their attitudes toward Jews and
languages also were widely spoken.
their policies toward Israel.
At home, his parents spoke French,
"I continue to mistrust Israel's
Arabic and Ladino.
neighbors, but I hope that peace can
Not all of Hazan's friends and rela-
be reached," Hawn says.
tives were able to come to the United
States, but thanks to the Internet, they
— Suzanne Chessler

6527 Telegraph Rd.
Corner of Maple (15 Mile)
Bloomfield Township
(248) 646-8568

4763 Haggerty Rd. at Pontiac Trail
West Wind Village Shopping Center
West Bloomfield
(248) 669-2295

841 East Big Beaver, Troy
(248) 680-0094

SOUTHFIELD SOUVLAKI
CONEY ISLAND
Nine Mile & Greenfield
15647 West Nine Mile, Southfield
(248) 569-5229

FARMINGTON SOUVLAKI
CONEY ISLAND
Between 13 & 14 on
Orchard Lake Road
30985 Orchard Lake Rd.
Farmington Hills
(248) 626-9732

UPTOWN PARTHENON
4301 Orchard Lake Rd.
West Bloomfield
(248) 538-6600

HERCULES FAMILY RESTAURANT
33292 West 12 Mile
Farmington Hills
(248) 489-9777

Serving whitefish, Iamb shank,
pastitsio and moussaka

1111

I

IIIIIIII MEI

111111111 MEI 1111111111 NMI

Receive

no/a,
slily iulal

u

.

I

I

I
I

I

nu

Entire Bill

not to gowith any other offer
with coupon
Expires 12/30/2000

MN MUM 1111111 MEI MIN

INMI

MN ME

:

I

I

I

8/

20C

7€