The Medieval Underworld - Andrew McCall

This book was interesting, but very painful to read because McCall tortures all of his sentences. In McCall's hands, for example, the previous sentence might read: "The sentences of this book, being tortured by McCall, were very painful to read, yet interesting did I find the book."Or some such nonsense.

Anyway, the content was engaging - the book opens with the context of the Middle Ages, the theory behind Church, State, and sin, then the nature of medieval punishment (cruel and unusual), following by a closer treatment of several strains of deviants in the Middle Ages:

• bandits, freebooters and outlaws
• richman, poorman, beggarman, thieves
• prostitutes
• homosexuals
• heretics
• sorcerers and witches
• Jews

The book ends with an analysis of the medieval conception of hell.

Again, interesting, but perhaps not worth the effort.

Satan in Goray

Just finished reading Isaac Bashevis Singer's "Satan in Goray" for my Russian lit class, Literature of Destruction. The novel was written in Yiddish in 1955.

This apocalyptic novel takes place in 1648 in Goray, Poland. Goray is a small Jewish town "at the end of the world" (a deliberately ambiguous phrase, it can mean either temporally or spatially or both). Many of the Orthodox residents become convinced that the end of the world is at hand after hearing news of Sabbatai Zevi, a rabbi who has proclaimed himself the Messiah. Zeal for the end of days leads Goray into depravity and madness.

This book is fantastic, I highly recommend it! I particularly recommend it if you liked:

-- "Everything is Illuminated," (2002) by Jonathon Safran Foer, which clearly took a lot from this work.
-- "One Hundred Years of Solitude," (1967) by Gabriel García Márquez. (Jesse, don't be deterred.)

The Zookeeper's Wife

I just finished reading The Zookeeper's Wife, by Diane Ackerman, for this season's kickoff meeting of my local Book Club. This was a very affecting read for me. It is an engaging account of the events of World War II in Warsaw from the perspective of a strong, non-Jewish, Polish woman named Antonina Zabinski. It is a true story, developed from her writings and those of her husband, from diaries of the Jews who she "saved", and other historical accounts. Antonina's life as the wife of the keeper of the Warsaw Zoo was extremely colorful; there was much humor in the behavior of the animals, especially those she reared in her house. She seemed to have special gifts in communicating not only with the animals, but with people too. This quality really helped her defuse the dangerous situations that developed because she kept Jews hidden in her villa. I particularly admired her ability to communicate calm in the face of terror and to both take and give any joy that could be found in the day. This book also appealed to me for a couple of other reasons. Clearly, the author is fond of word origins and I enjoyed the explanation of a number of expressions, such as "screaming meemees" and "Molotov cocktails", that arose during wars. Also, the author uses a number of Polish words that I used to hear at home, so seeing them brought connection and comfort. Additionally, the description of attempts to resurrect extinct tarpans, aurochsen, and European bison, by back-breeding, appealed to the scientist in me. Finally, to know the story of World War II is to be sickened by the relentless suffering of so many, but I knew too little of the events in Poland and the story was so engagingly told that I learned a great deal. It's a great read.