To This Day, one of Agnon’s last novels (first published in Hebrew in 1952), is also his last to be translated into English. It is a brilliantly accomplished and haunting work. On the surface it is a comically entertaining tale of a young writer—a Galician Jew who has lived in Palestine, and returns to Europe on the eve of World War I, to get stranded in Berlin, a city with severe wartime shortages. On a deeper level it is a profound commentary on exile, Zionism, divine providence, human egoism, and other typically Agnonian concerns. A truly satisfying novel to complete the Agnon canon.
To This Day, one of Agnon’s last novels (first published in Hebrew in 1952), is also his last to be translated into English. It is a brilliantly accomplished and haunting work. On the surface it is a comically entertaining tale of a young writer—a Galician Jew who has lived in Palestine, and returns to Europe on the eve of World War I, to get stranded in Berlin, a city with severe wartime shortages. On a deeper level it is a profound commentary on exile, Zionism, divine providence, human egoism, and other typically Agnonian concerns. A truly satisfying novel to complete the Agnon canon.
