German History, General & Miscellaneous Biography, Eastern European History, Jewish History

Slow Fire: Jewish Notes from Berlin

Name: Slow Fire: Jewish Notes from Berlin
Author: Susan Neiman
ISBN: 9781610270304

by Susan Neiman

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Overview

Peter folded an easel in the corner to make a table. He brought cold cuts and bread and asked me what I thought of his paintings. Later I would learn that people here always ask you what you think of their paintings, and that it's wrong just to say you find them interesting, but perfectly alright to say you find them awful. . . . You come from a Jewish family, don't you?" asked Peter. "Yes," I said. "It doesn't matter," said the other painter. Doesn't matter? To whom? Berlin--"East" and "West," day and of course night--through the 1980s before the Wall came down. In the eyes of a U.S. philosophy student. And Jewish, which makes for moments awkward, poignant, resonant, unspoken, crass, funny, and always lurking. Most of all, Susan Neiman--later a philosophy professor at Yale and Tel Aviv University, now the Director of the Einstein Forum--can surely write, as borne out again by her books to follow this debut. We live the Reagan years with her when a city was divided, America the occupier, and the cigarettes not named Salem because it sounds too Jewish.

About the Author, Susan Neiman

Susan Neiman, a philosopher with her PhD from Harvard, is Director of the Einstein Forum and formerly taught at Yale and Tel Aviv University. Her 2008 book Moral Clarity was named to The New York Times' 100 Notable Books list. She has also published acclaimed books on rereading Kant and the idea of evil.

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Editorials

Ian Wallace

This entertaining memoir, strongly colored by the author's inquiring mind, bohemian inclinations, and Jewish background, recounts her 6-year stay in the formerly divided city. Somewhat misleadingly titled, Neiman's reminiscences are not strictly limited to Jewish questions; rather her scope encompasses a wide range of Berlin-related subjects from life in the East to the byzantine characters that keep popping up. Of the many personal accounts of Berlin...one of the liveliest and most captivating.

Publishers Weekly - Ian Wallace

Kirkus Associates

Neiman's fine memoir of six years in Berlin, 1982-88, explores German attempts to face up to, or hide from (or both), the Nazi years. This is a rich broth of a book, full of sharply drawn characters, lively vignettes, verbatim barroom conversations, a journal kept with intellect and sympathy. If life is no longer a cabaret, at least it's a Kneipe--a rock-bottom, working-class or student hangout.