[Cz-L] A forgotten writer

Dear all,

Hardy's brilliant post about Shayke Dan brought another Czernowitz related secret mission into my mind: It is subject of the novel "Der vor dem Löwen flieht" (Who fled from a lion) by Jacob Klein-Haparash. Klein-Haparash was born in Czernowitz in 1907, migrated to Israel after the war and published his first novel in Germany's top publishing house S. Fischer out of nothing in 1960.

A review in "Der Spiegel" from 1961 was not to enthusiastic:

Der aus dem bukowinischen Czernowitz stammende, heute in Israel lebende Autor versucht, in seinem Roman-Wälzer das Leben von sechzig in einem Verzeichnis vorgestellten und das Leben von kaum zählbaren übrigen Menschen in der Zeit zwischen dem 28. November 1939 und dem 10. Mai 1940 zu einem Spruch des Propheten Amos in Beziehung zu setzen: "Wie wenn einer vor dem Löwen flieht, und ein Bär begegnet ihm, und er kommt ins Haus und stützt die Hand an die Wand, und es beißt ihn eine Schlange." Die Fabel wird eingeschränkt auf das inzwischen zur Historie gewordene Schicksal der Bukowina zwischen Kommunismus und Nationalsozialismus. Wiewohl Klein-Haparash es versteht, Vertreter beider Extreme in schier unentwirrbare Verwicklungen hineinzudirigieren, hat er für seine Romanfiguren keine Schattierungen zwischen Gut und Böse. Die mit Statisten überbesetzte und von abgenutzten Klischees behangene Kulisse macht die Lektüre zu einem strapaziösen, wenn auch nicht uninteressante!
 n Vergnügen.

In his tome the Czernowitz born, now in Israel living author, tries to set the life of sixty persons - presented in a directory - and the lives of other nearly uncountable people from the period between November 28 1939 and May 10 1940, in relation to a saying of prophet Amos: "As if one fled from a lion, and a bear met him, and he comes into the house and leans the hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him there." The fable is limited to the fate of Bukovina between communism and nazism. Although Klein-Haparash understands to direct representatives of both extremes in almost inextricable tangles, he has for the protagonists of his novel no shades between good and evil. The with to many supernumeraries and worn clichés crowded backdrop makes the reading a tiering, though not uninteresting pleasure.

Nevertheless the book must have been popular in the early 60s; numerous vintage copies can still be found in online book stores. Two other books followed until Klein-Haparash's death in 1970. As a writer he is almost forgotten today. Almost but not total. Rimbaud Publishing House in Aachen reprinted his works.
http://www.rimbaud.de/kleinhaparash.html

Christian

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Received on 2013-02-27 05:24:29