Yair Mazor calls himself a “literary scientist,” meaning that he analyzes literature with the tools of a scientist; he develops theories, analyzing not only the external but also the internal and hidden.
During a recent telephone interview, Mazor described his work another way: “In a way you may portray my [literary commentary] as esthetic archeology, as it unveils or excavates the literary text and unearths the underlying currents of the text.”
Mazor, Israel-born professor of Hebrew and biblical literature at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, undertakes a new subject for his 14th book, “The Poetry of Asher Reich: Portrait of a Hebrew Poet” (The University of Wisconsin Press, softcover, $17.95).
In the book, set for publication on Feb. 23, Mazor introduces English readers to the poetry of Reich, who Mazor describes as “a prominent and fascinating voice in the intricate choir of contemporary Hebrew/Israeli poetry.”
“Reich’s poetry bestows passionate, vivacious plenty upon Hebrew/Israeli poetry, while simultaneously paying homage to its predecessors from the fifties,” Mazor wrote in the introduction to the anthology.
He pairs the poetry with drawings — mostly of female figures and natural landscapes — by renowned Israeli artist Michael Kovner, “one of Israel’s most gifted artists,” according to Mazor.
“I chose the art of Michael Kovner because of the essential, emotional, bleak or even murky [quality, that] corresponds so well to the nature of Asher Reich’s poetry … and makes the poetry even more intricate,” he said.
“Jews love stories,” Debra B. Darvick writes in the preface to her book, “This Jewish Life: Stories of Discovery, Connection, and Joy” (Eakin Press, softcover, $19.95). And we don’t forget them, she continues; rather, “we pull them along with us.”
So, Darvick gathered the stories of 52 Jews, ordinary people of all denominations, lifestyles and attitudes. The common thread, Darvick writes, is that “they have all experienced something wonderful by virtue of being connected to the Jewish community.”
Structured around the yearly cycle of holidays and life cycle events, the book is rich with first person stories of a diverse group, including the story of Kathryn Engber, from a small Wisconsin city, who serves on the Chevra Kadisha (Jewish burial society).
Her story, “She is Pure,” tells her perspective of caring for the dead: “Being a part of the Chevra Kadisha has made me appreciate life so very much more. We all know that life can end at any time, but you can’t live your life fearing death. You square up with death and return to living your life.”
Darvick, a journalist for the Detroit Jewish News, wrote this story as a chronicler, a biographer. After interviewing her subjects, she wrote their stories in first person accounts.
“People told me things they had never had the opportunity to tell those closest to them” she wrote in the preface. “There was something very powerful having a defining life moment articulated for them.”
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