Un Amico di Kafka by Isaac Bashevis Singer

 Un Amico di Kafka

by Isaac Bashevis Singer is a new book published by Adelphi. 

This master story-teller, with his dense prose where you can find traces of a wisdom more old than the world, will describe an old Polland but also a New World of Jewish immigrated, with characters originals and captivating. 

Singer and his perception of Jewish as an occult power, remarks the necessity to keep the world in peace, because nothing, nothing is more important and urgent than peace and nothing can be built in a war-time. 

Singer knew this story pretty well, when he portrayed in The Family Moscat a world destroyed by the invasion of Hitler in Polland.

The first tale is on a Kafka's friend: another will tell the story of a man who lived in Europe. He desired to contact a guy living in the USA, who was writing a sort of aenciclopedia. 

That American didn't never answer him back. 

Not receiving answers, the man invents a character, a woman, with which to start a correspondence with the American.

This time the American answers back. Time passes by, and after several years this man decides to afford to NYC with the desire to meet this lady with which he was in communication with: other lies and a horrible end for that man. 

A young couple is in crisis. The young man, pretty devoted, can't understand why her wife, for the feast of Yom Kippur, is so agitated. When in the sinagogue, discovers that the wife has just left him for a butcher. Living with relief this fact, this boy will start a life of prayers.

There are magical stories of existing places and the day after, unexisting once, and in this tale the story of a girl who, pretty particular, lives with his father. Once, becoming great friend with a writer, told him that she had spotted Hitler in a bar where they loved to spend some time. We are in NYC. Thinking that she is burned out, the writer didn't search for her anymore, discovering later that she had killed herself. So, the writer reflected. Hitler, the story she told him was absurd and maybe it is wrong what we see, for sure, but if we live in a world of perceptions, she wasn't completely wrong. After all, admitted the writer, hadn't seen her, or so it seemed to him, in company of a very old man once? 

In another tale important considerations on the modern Jewish people. To Singer modern Jewish people have suicidal purposes. When there is not antisemitism, Jewish tends to re-create it, because the modern jew can't live without antisemitism. 

The Jew must pay blood for humanity, fight against reactionaries: a Jew is worried because of chinese, russians, tends to speak of revolutionary ideals when, at the same time, wants for himself all the priviledges of Capitalism; he wants to destroy the nationalism of other ones, but he is proud to be part of a special folk.

It is too beauty the tale of the professor and the doves. In this case, this doctor, old, is worried because he understand  that their world is ending, and soon war will reach them. We are in Polland.

Hitler and wild antisemitism sentiments are pervading the society everyday more brutally. The professor is a soul pretty wise, and has his own point of views. He is under cure because of his heart. One day, some nasty people throw him some stones and one of them reaches the forehead of the professor. The housemaid immediately take good care of him, but the professor dies that night for a heart attack. 

The professor wasn't just loved by people when in life. He had a passion for doves and birds in general. His house, left at the housemaid once dead, was plenty of cages with singing and joyous birds. Everyday he enjoyed to set free the little animals for his joy and desperation of the housemaid: birds, without fault, can be dirty. The professor loved to feed also the doves close to his house and did it diligently everyday taking great care of them. 

When he died, that animals recognizing that they had lost a friend, accompanied with respect their beloved professor for the entire road to the cemetery. Their loyalty will let you cry.

In another tale we meet a chimneysweepers. He was a modest person, but worked very well, and a lot of people called him for cleaning their fireplaces. Then, once fell rovinously and unfortunately, invalid, could not work anymore. 

His brain after the fall changed. He was in grade to tell you your most hidden desires. Who had stolen objects, what you did yesterday. He became a phaenomenon, and the mother asked also for some money, if people wanted to discover what happened in their existence...

The story of Altele is under many ways...Shocking. This girl married a boy, but after more than a year, they didn't still have any children. 

So she started to search for a solution and per years, years and years, she left her house per months with other ladies going in distant lands, trying to search for a remedy against infertility. 

Once, returned home, her husband wasn't anymore there. So, now, her purpose was also the one to search for her husband and again, again, she left the house for going with other women in other distant lands per months. Once rediscovered her husband she left him again because she didn't recognize anymore that man, so cold with her as a husband and with other women, again, returned to search for her husband. It was a shocking, amazing tale of a wandering and after all, peaceless life.

Adele. another tale, loved dresses. She didn't marry anyone but she bought wagons of clothes, ad she was constantly trendy. Once old, when she discovered that she couldn't wear beautiful clothes once dead, decided to become catholic. In that way she would have resolved everything. Funny tale.

Shloimele is a tale that can be considered pretty similar to the one of Altele. Why this? Because also in this case there is a man into a spiral without any possibility of escapism. Exactly as did Altele, this man lived an existence dreaming of big productions, big theaters, Broadway etc. Oh, yes here we are in NYC.

Time passed by, his partners changed as well and the guy remained more or less in the same situation in which at first, many years before. the writer had firstly met him, without any kind of improvement, but with, still, the idea to become someone one day. One day...

The short tale of Chazkele, the son of an humble man, is beauty. This boy became an heretic. At first studied the Tora, but later developed a big criticism on religion putting people in great difficulty.

A short tale involves a bet: scaring someone to death, letting him think that close to him there is a corpse. At the end it will become a real tragedy!

The tale of Il Figlio, differently, is intimist. There is a father, waiting for the arrival of his son via ship. Many his internal doubts and perplexities, of course resolved once he will meet him! Beautiful! Tender.

Destino, or the story of Bessie Gold will let us descend in that profoundity of a soul that sometimes we don't see. This lady approaches the writer, starting to tell him her existence, after all not bad. The arrival of a wonderful man, who proposed a marriage immediately after having known her. The birth of a baby girl and the joy of a family: broken by the departure of his beloved husband too soon. Then a violent dog, the disappearance of her daughter, who left her, her successes, other disgraceful situations...The writer, listening to her, and looking attentively to her yellow eyes understands that maybe behind this existence, and behind these tragedies, maybe there was a resistance of Besse on optimism or a perfidy and cruelty against other people and animals that couldn't be seen at first sight. The writer started to become scared of her, because he didn't want to descend in the hell she lived or had chosen to live in, or simply, he understood that after all that lady was a dark, dark, dark, lady in grade to poison every person she would have met along her way. One of the most beautiful tales of this book. 

Although they are short tales, these ones, I left aside some of them you musn't imagine that the reading will be light, because they are absorbing, written with great wisdom and knowledge of the human existence and most important, human nature. Singer is one of the best narrators of our recent decades, still greatly missed for the intensity of his stories and the ability to portray unique characters.

I thank Adelphi for the physical copy of the book.

Anna Maria Polidori