- Hardcover: 674 pages
- Publisher: Princeton University Press; First Edition edition (26 April 2000)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0691009724
- ISBN-13: 978-0691009728
- Product Dimensions: 24 x 16.4 x 4.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 2,026,956 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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More About the Author
Product Description
Gerald Kaufman, Sunday Telegraph
Even in translation, its unique style is irresistible.
Review
"Ancient religious longing, modern political aspirations, and personal dreams of liberation all intersect.... [Agnon's] writing is so packed, so intensely allusive. This is one of the glories of [his] prose." - Jonathan Rosen, New York Times Book Review "[This is] Agnon's gigantic achievement." - Morris Dickstein, Times Literary Supplement "Agnon forged the language of modern Hebrew literature.... [His] novel has a folkloric quality analogous to the bold simplifications of Chagall, locating the archaic residue lurking just below the surface disenchantment of modernity." - Publishers Weekly "[A] scathing vision of God and man, Zionism and Jewish history, desire and guilt, language and meaning.... A work of powerful, and eccentric, originality." - Robert Alter, Los Angeles Times
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First Sentence
Isaac stood there on the soil of the Land of Israel he had yearned to see all the days of his life. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
Isaac stood there on the soil of the Land of Israel he had yearned to see all the days of his life. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Agnon presents a tapestry of life in Palestine in the early 1900's. The immense richness of the characters, landscapes, settlements and communities in Israel is almost mind-boggling. Balak's fateful journey through the streets of Jerusalem is an incredible read, and brings to life the way things were. History, romance, religion are all carefully weaved together to create a stunning saga of a man -- some surmise Agnon's alter-ego -- and a dog.
0 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is one boring book. Translated from the Hebrew into the most stilted form of English. I bought this because the author is a Nobel laureate and that usually means a powerful moving read. It's the story of a Jewish youth who "ascends" to Israel before the first world war to work the land in Jaffa. He can't get a job so he does a bit of painting and decorating, gets a girl, loses a girl, goes to Jerusalem, does a bit of painting and decorating, gets a girl, goes back to Jaffa, potters around a bit, goes back to Jerusalem and marries the girl. All this takes 640 pages of turgid prose. He also paints "Crazy Dog" on the side of a dog. We keep returning to the story of the dog for some reason although I really couldn't have cared less about the dog and its wanderings. Thankfully the dog bites our hero on his wedding day and ends the story.
There's not an ounce of humour in the book either. Or maybe it didn't translate.
There is however a racist element. I didn't know, for instance, that the Jews built Tel Aviv because they didn't like living among the filthy Arabs (page 460).
So this is probably a book for right wing Jewish historians only.
There's not an ounce of humour in the book either. Or maybe it didn't translate.
There is however a racist element. I didn't know, for instance, that the Jews built Tel Aviv because they didn't like living among the filthy Arabs (page 460).
So this is probably a book for right wing Jewish historians only.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
8 reviews
38 of 39 people found the following review helpful
Finally in English -- one of the great novels of the century
10 July 2000
Format:Hardcover
Agnon deserved his Nobel Prize. His most important work, Only Yesterday, casts an array of lights into the inner world of Judaism. Anyone who enjoys Bashevis Singer or Sholom Aleichem will kick themselves for the years they wasted without Agnon, who surpasses them. The translation itself is a wonder. It reproduces the Biblical style of narrative which Agnon brought to modern Hebrew literature. Agnon melds the traditional elements of Rabbinic parable and folkloric animal stories into the modern narrative of the turn-the-century Jewish settlers of Palestine. All in all, the appearance of the English translation is a great event, a must read for lovers of Jewish literature.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Pure Poetry
25 Feb 2003
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
"Only Yesterday" is, perhaps, Agnon's greatest work. In it, he displays the skill of a consummate novelist with the sensibilities of a poet. For those who are familiar with Hebrew poetry, particularly Biblical poetry, "Only Yesterday" conveys in English the rhythms and structure of classic Hebrew poetry while transmitting a sensual and, ultimately, tragic story. It is really not comparable to Singer; it is something far above and beyond Singer's work.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
A Masterful Read
16 Feb 2010
Format:Paperback
Agnon's Only Yesterday requires a close and careful reader. But the benefits of reading this novel and finishing it far out weigh the effort.
First there is the problem of translation. Agnon's Hebrew was deeply layered and rich, mining much of the long tradition of Hebrew literature in every age. Of course, a translation does not covey this. But this translation gives a sense of the faux simplicity of Agnon's Hebrew prose. Beneath the deadpan delivery is a multi-layered work that taps into a three-thousand year history of Hebrew prose writing.
Second, Agnon has produced a work that is an invaluable document about the early days of the New Yishuv in Palestine. Rich in local color and detail, Agnon is not afraid to take the reader on carefully crafted detours into the lives of the odd characters of the early Zionist movement, men and women who would resurrect a language and create a state.
Finally, Only Yesterday belongs in the pantheon of large social novels that while exemplifying a certain time and place, capture human universals. The problems of human life, the pains, joys, loves, losses, are the ultimate subject of this book. Taken together, all these elements make for a masterful read.
First there is the problem of translation. Agnon's Hebrew was deeply layered and rich, mining much of the long tradition of Hebrew literature in every age. Of course, a translation does not covey this. But this translation gives a sense of the faux simplicity of Agnon's Hebrew prose. Beneath the deadpan delivery is a multi-layered work that taps into a three-thousand year history of Hebrew prose writing.
Second, Agnon has produced a work that is an invaluable document about the early days of the New Yishuv in Palestine. Rich in local color and detail, Agnon is not afraid to take the reader on carefully crafted detours into the lives of the odd characters of the early Zionist movement, men and women who would resurrect a language and create a state.
Finally, Only Yesterday belongs in the pantheon of large social novels that while exemplifying a certain time and place, capture human universals. The problems of human life, the pains, joys, loves, losses, are the ultimate subject of this book. Taken together, all these elements make for a masterful read.
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