| My Gaze Is Turned Inward: Letters 1934-1943 Contributor(s): Kolmar, Gertrud (Author), Goldstein, Brigitte (Translator), Goldstein, Brigitte (Preface by) |
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ISBN: 0810118556 ISBN-13: 9780810118553 Publisher: Northwestern University Press OUR PRICE: $17.06 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: August 2004 Annotation: Events of the time are a bit like Impressionist paintings . . . which combine into a recognizable whole only when observed from a distance.-Gertrud Kolmar, in a letter to her sister, October 22, 1939 So a picture of Gertrud Kolmar, a gifted Jewish writer struggling to sustain her art and her family in the midst of the encroaching horrors of Nazi Germany, emerges clearly from these eloquent and allusive letters. Written in the stolen moments before her day as a forced laborer in a munitions factory began, the letters tell of Kolmar's move from the family home in Fikenbrug to a three-room flat in Berlin, which she and her father must soon share with three other displaced Jews. They describe her factory work as a kind of learning experience, and assert, in the face of ever-worsening conditions, that true art, never dependent on comfort or peace, is "capable of triumphing over . . . time and place." Indeed, her letters are a triumph of art, transforming an externally adverse fate and communicating the freedom of the human will in the midst of unfreedom. Prevented by the strict censorship of the time from saying too much too directly, Kolmar nonetheless manages to convey the intensity and determination of her inner world as well as the relentlessness of the outer world bent on crushing her. For their insight into the mind and soul of a poet paradoxically submitting to and defying fate, and for their interior vision of one of history's darkest moments, these letters can be read as a unique document of literary, historical, and spiritual power. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Biography & Autobiography | Literary Figures - Biography & Autobiography | Historical - Biography & Autobiography | Women |
| Dewey: B |
| Series: Jewish Lives (Paperback) |
| Physical Information: 0.57" H x 5.6" W x 8.8" (0.66 lbs) 214 pages |
| Themes: - Sex & Gender - Feminine |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Event of the time are a bit like Impressionist paintings ... which combine into a recognizable whole only when observed from a distance. --Gertrude Kolmar in a letter to her sister, October 22, 1939 So a picture of Gertrud Kolmar, a gifted Jewish writer struggling to sustain her art and family, emerges from these eloquent and allusive letters. Written in the stolen moments before her day as a forced laborer in a munitions factory began, the letters tell of Kolmar's move from the family home in Finkenkrug to a three-room flat in Berlin, which she and her father must soon share with other displaced Jews. They describe her factory work as a learning experience and assert, in the face of ever worsening conditions, that true art, never dependent on comfort or peace, is capable of triumphing over ... time and place. These letters are a triumph of art, proclaiming the freedom of the human will amidst oppression. Though prevented by Nazi censorship from saying too much too directly, Kolmar still conveys the intensity and determination of her inner world, as well as the relentlessness of the outer world bent on crushing her. For its insight into the mind and soul of a poet submitting to and denying fate, and for its interior vision of one of history's darkest moments, My Gaze Is Turned Inward is a unique document of literary, historical, and spiritual power. |