Appelfeld, Aharon 1932–

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Appelfeld, Aharon 1932–

(Aron Appelfeld)

PERSONAL: Born February 16, 1932, in Czernowitz, Romania (now Chernovtsy, Ukraine); immigrated to Palestine (now Israel), 1940s; son of a miller; married; wife's name Judith; children: Meir, Yitzak (sons), Batya (daughter). Education: Attended Hebrew University in late 1940s.

ADDRESSES: Home—Mevaseret Zion, Israel. Agent—Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 91 Clapham High St., London SW4 7TA, England.

CAREER: Writer. Teacher of Hebrew literature at Ben Gurion University. Visiting lecturer, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Oxford University, and Cambridge University, 1984; lecturer in Hebrew literature, Be'er Shev'a University. Military service: Served in Soviet and Israeli armies.

AWARDS, HONORS: Youth Aliyah prize; twice recipient of the Anne Frank Prize; Milo prize; Jerusalem prize; Prime Minister's prize for creative writing, 1969; Brenner prize, 1975; Israel prize, 1983; Present Tense Award for fiction, 1985, for Tzili: The Story of a Life; H.H. Wingate literary award, 1987, 1989; National Jewish Book Award for Fiction, Jewish Book Council, 1989, for The Immortal Bartfuss; Prix Médicis Etranger, 2004; Nelly Sachs Prize (Germany), 2005.

WRITINGS:

In the Wilderness (short stories; originally published in Hebrew), translation by Tirza Sandbank, Sidney Berg, and J. Sloane, drawings by Yehuda Bacon, Ah'shav, 1965.

Tor hapelaot (novel), [Tel Aviv], 1978, translation by Dalya Bilu published as The Age of Wonders, David R. Godine (Boston, MA), 1981.

Badenheim, 1939 (novel; originally published as Badenheim 'ir nofesh), translation by Bilu, David R. Godine, 1980.

Tzili: The Story of a Life (novel; originally published as Kutonet yeha-pasim), translation by Bilu, Dutton (New York, NY), 1983.

The Retreat (novel; originally published in Hebrew), translation by Bilu, Dutton (New York, NY), 1984.

To the Land of the Cattails (novel; originally published in Hebrew), translation by Jeffrey M. Green, Weidenfeld & Nicolson (London, England), 1986, reprinted as To the Land of the Reeds, 1987.

The Immortal Bartfuss (novel; originally published as Bartfus ben ha-almavet), translation by Green, Weidenfeld & Nicolson (London, England), 1988.

Writing and the Holocaust (nonfiction), Holmes & Meier (New York, NY), 1988.

For Every Sin (novel; originally published as Al kol hapesha'im), translation by Green, Weidenfeld & Nicolson (London, England), 1989.

The Healer (novel; originally published as Ba'et uve'onah achat), Weidenfeld & Nicolson (London, England), 1990.

Katerina (novel; originally published as Katerinah, 1989), Random House (New York, NY), 1992, Schocken (New York, NY), 2006.

Unto the Soul, Random House (New York, NY), 1994.

Beyond Despair: Three Lectures and a Conversation with Philip Roth, Fromm International (New York, NY), 1994.

The Iron Tracks, Schocken (New York, NY), 1998.

The Conversion, Schocken (New York, NY), 1998.

The Story of a Life, Schocken (New York, NY), 2004.

Poland, A Green Country, Keter (Jerusalem, Israel), 2005.

A Table for One: Under the Light of Jerusalem, Toby (New Milford, CT), 2005.

All Whom I Have Loved, Schocken (New York, NY), 2006.

Blooms of Darkness, Keter (Jerusalem, Israel), 2006.

Also author of untranslated novels in Hebrew, including Kafor al ha'aretz (title means "Frost on the Land"), 1965; Bekumat hakark'a (title means "At Ground Level"), 1968; Ha'or vehakutonet (title means "The Skin and the Gown"), 1971; Adoni Hanahar (title means "My Master the River"), 1971; Ke'ishon h'ayin (title means "Like the Pupil of an Eye"), 1972; Shanim veha'ot (title means "Years and Hours"), 1974–75; Michvat ha'or (title means "A Burn on the Skin"), 1980; Hakutonet vehapsim (title means "The Shirt and the Stripes"), 1983; Ritspat esh (title means "Tongue of Fire"), 1988; and Mesilat barzel (title means "The Railway"), 1991. Also author of Writing and the Holocaust, 1988, and of the untranslated nonfiction book Mas'ot beguf rish-on (title means "Essays in First-Person"), 1979. Editor, From the World of Rabbi Nahman of Bratslav, 1973. Contributor to Six Israeli Novellas, Godine, 1999.

SIDELIGHTS: Aharon Appelfeld is among Israel's most distinguished novelists. The son of bourgeois Polish Jews, Appelfeld was only eight years old when his family fell victim to the Holocaust. While enjoying a countryside vacation, Appelfeld and his parents were overwhelmed by German troops. His mother was shot and killed, and his father was sent to a labor camp in Transnistria. Appelfeld was also sent to the Transnistria camp but escaped within a few months, and for the next two years he roamed rural Ukraine. "I wandered about from place to place as a shepherd boy, afraid to speak to anyone," he told Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, writing for the New York Times, in 1980.

In 1944 Appelfeld began working in the Soviet Army's field kitchens. "These were good times," he recalled to Jonathan Yardley in the Washington Post in 1981. When the war ended Appelfeld entered a Yugoslavian refugee camp, then moved to one in Italy, and finally in the late 1940s immigrated to Palestine. By 1948 the uneasy peace between Jews and Arabs in Palestine had broken into open warfare, and the new Jewish state of Israel was declared by a special committee of the United Nations. Appelfeld joined the armed forces of the emerging nation and served for two years.

While in the Israeli army Appelfeld resumed his education, which had been interrupted after first grade. Multilingual, he concentrated on literature, including fiction by Henrich von Kleist and Franz Kafka, and philosophy, particularly works of Arthur Schopenhauer and Friedrich Nietzsche. After leaving the military Appelfeld entered Jerusalem's Hebrew University and formally commenced his philosophy studies. "These were my best years," he recalled in the 1981 Washington Post profile.

Soon after leaving the university Appelfeld began channeling his experiences into literature. In the ensuing decades he has distinguished himself as an eloquent writer on the Holocaust experience, and though he eschews the persona of international spokesman, he has been widely hailed for the force and compassion of his expression. The author "never addresses the Holocaust directly, letting it hover in the background," explained Carla N. Spivack in the Reference Guide to Short Fiction. "[This] allows Appelfeld to create a pervading sense of irony."

With Badenheim, 1939, his first novel to appear in English translation, Appelfeld came to immediate prominence in the West. This short novel, published in the United States in 1981, concerns events of one summer at an Austrian resort for middle-class Jews: The annual music festival is planned; flirtations are exchanged; rich pastries are consumed. But throughout the summer signs of anti-Semitism appear with increasing frequency as mysterious sanitation workers begin imposing regulations on the Jewish population. Awareness of impending doom, however, comes slowly, or it does not come at all. One prominent figure awaiting entrance to a filthy freight car muses, "If the coaches are so dirty it must mean that we have not far to go."

For English-language reviewers Badenheim, 1939 was an imposing literary effort. Idris Parry, writing in the Times Literary Supplement, favorably compared Appelfeld to Kafka and contended that his great advantage over Kafka is that "there is in his writing no sign of hysteria." Parry described Badenheim, 1939 as "an extraordinarily beautiful and sad book." Irving Howe, in his appraisal for the New York Times Book Review, was similarly impressed. He found the novel "unnerving" in its simplicity and declared that with imperceptible artistry Appelfeld had created "a small masterpiece."

The Age of Wonders, Appelfeld's next work to appear in English, presents a more intimate perspective on the Holocaust. In the novel's first part, a Jewish family struggles to maintain its rather peculiar normalcy despite indications of increasingly prevalent anti-Semitism. The family's father, a prominent writer, not only ignores the signs of impending doom but even denounces what he perceives as the more vulgar and foolish aspects of his fellow Jews. Eventually this family joins countless others herded into the railcars that will take them to the concentration camps and likely extermination. In the novel's shorter second part, the son, Bruno, returns from Israel to his hometown of Knospen, which lies near Vienna. In Knospen Bruno searches for people and places of his youth. He manages to revive some memories, but he is initially unable to discover anything indicative of his father. Then he has several encounters with Brum, a sneering old fellow who professes great admiration for Bruno's father. It is in the last of these meetings—when Brum reveals his own profound anti-Semitism and is struck for it—that Bruno finally comes to an acceptance of his father's unappealing aspects.

With The Age of Wonders Appelfeld enjoyed further acclaim. Walter Kendrick, in a Voice Literary Supplement critique, declared that the novel "belongs among those rare works of fiction that lodge in the memory more forcefully than real experience." In the New York Times Book Review, contributor Joel Agee was likewise enthusiastic, commending Appelfeld's "artistry" and noting the novel's "many brilliant small scenes."

Appelfeld's next work in English translation is Tzili: The Story of a Life, which recounts a young Jewish girl's experiences during the Holocaust. Abandoned by family and friends, Tzili survives briefly in a forest, then takes shelter from a village woman who thinks her the child of a whore. Tzili soon finds herself enslaved and physically abused. She flees her captor and settles again in the forest, where she eventually befriends a man who escaped from a nearby concentration camp. As Los Angeles Times reviewer Elaine Kendall noted, Tzili and the escapee "create a bizarre symbiotic idyll for themselves." After the war, however, Tzili finds herself once again abandoned, and she boards a boat for Palestine.

Tzili earned accolades as a particularly strong achievement for Appelfeld. It reflects on the author's talents that "a narrative so deliberately shorn of familiar human relations and emotions should bear so much power," wrote Joyce Carol Oates in a review for the New York Times Book Review. Newsweek reviewer Jean Strouse described Tzili as a "stark, dreamlike fable."

In The Retreat, Appelfeld depicts life at a Jewish camp in the Austrian Alps just prior to World War II. Most of the occupants are senior citizens who have come to the retreat hoping to rid themselves of so-called Jewish traits and characteristics—card playing, idle conversation—that are widely considered despicable. The camp is initially successful in its aims, but it eventually degenerates into a haven for misfits and the grossly self-indulgent. Violence occurs, and camp members suffer beatings when they wander, however seldom, into a nearby town. Soon disease and death are also prevalent. Nothing, however, can long distract the residents from their trivial personal concerns.

The Retreat was received as still further evidence of Appelfeld's literary mastery. Among the novel's strongest supporters was Jakov Lind, who wrote in the New York Times Book Review that it is "the vision of a remarkable poet on a passage of our contemporary history." Likewise, Time contributor John Skow wrote that with The Retreat the author "simply and affectingly bears witness" to inhumanity.

To the Land of the Cattails affords readers a similarly harrowing experience. In this novel a Jewish woman and her half-gentile son trek from Vienna to the woman's homeland in Bukovina, near the Rumania-Ukraine border, in the late 1930s. As their yearlong journey ensues, signs of the Holocaust appear with increasing frequency. The mother grows more and more fearful while the son becomes what a Newsweek reviewer described as a "swaggering gentile." Eventually, the mother and son are separated; the woman is herded into a train, destination unknown.

Upon publication in English translation in 1986, To the Land of the Cattails was rated by critics as another accomplished work by Appelfeld. New York Times reviewer John Gross noted the novel's "dreamlike" quality and affirmed that Appelfeld has successfully created "an effect of utter inevitability." Washington Post contributor Jonathan Yardley shared this impression. While conceding that To the Land of the Cattails has many similarities to the author's other works, Yardley added that the position Appelfeld holds is "so important … that it is easy to understand why he is drawn to it over and over."

In The Immortal Bartfuss Appelfeld portrays an individual haunted by his own survival. Having survived the Holocaust, despite being shot more than fifty times, Bartfuss immigrated to Israel, where he lives an empty, unhappy life. Although married and the father of two daughters, one of whom is retarded, Bartfuss has little regard for family life. He wanders through cafes by day and roams the beaches by night before returning to his own bare room at home. His only meaningful possession is a hidden box containing both gold bars and photographs of his family—parents and a sister—killed in the Holocaust. After suffering an ulcer attack, however, Bartfuss suddenly longs for companionship. He eventually strikes an awkward but rewarding bond with his retarded daughter. Interactions with still others ensue, and though one tie leads to disappointment and another to violence, Bartfuss eventually finds a meager contentment within himself. Among Bartfuss's many enthusiasts was Leonard Michaels, who noted in the New York Times Book Review the novel's "brilliant poetic compressions."

Still another Holocaust survivor serves as the focus of For Every Sin. This novel tells of Theo, who has lived in a concentration camp. After the liberation Theo embarks for his Austrian homeland. His travels take him through war-torn Europe, where he encounters other similarly haunted survivors. Though initially loath to consort with his fellow travelers, Theo eventually understands that others share his anguish. Jonathan Kirsch, in a Los Angeles Times review, described Theo's travels as a "journey back to the world of the living." Kirsch contended that Appelfeld's handling of the Holocaust "only sharpens its unspeakable horror."

The Healer, which appeared in English translation in 1990, is among Appelfeld's novels dealing with European life in the 1930s. A young Jewish man, Karl, agrees to accompany his mother and sister to a faith healer after psychiatrists fail in treating the sister's emotional instability. The healer, a rabbi, counsels the daughter to study Hebrew prayer books, which have long been disdained by the girl's father, an ambitious businessman. To Karl's surprise, his sister slowly recovers. When the father arrives to take away his family, the mother and daughter refuse to join him. Against his will, Karl accompanies his father back to the city. In the ensuing journey, the Holocaust is foreshadowed when a trainman expresses anti-Semitism. "This is what makes Appelfeld's books compelling," Ron Grossman wrote in a review for the Chicago Tribune.

Unto the Soul, which appeared in English translation in 1994, is "one of the most enigmatic" of Appelfeld's books, in the words of New York Times Book Review writer Eva Hoffman. The novel is set on a bleak mountaintop in Ukraine, where a brother and sister are pledged to guard an old cemetery. As time passes, however, the significance of their work fades, and they fall into quarrels, long periods of silence, drinking, and finally incest.

The protagonist of The Iron Tracks has a clear sense of meaning in his life, although it appears to be an aimless one. Erwin Siegelbaum travels perpetually on the trains of south central Europe, supporting himself by dealing in Jewish antiques and relics while constantly searching for Nachtigel, the sadistic commander of the Nazi camp in which Erwin and his parents were imprisoned. Erwin has plans to exterminate Nachtigel, and the story contrasts the urge to preserve with the urge to destroy—and how the two may mingle.

In The Conversion, a middle-aged Jew casually converts to Christianity in order to advance his career, but when a government proposal threatens the Jewish heart of the city, he realizes how much he values his people and heritage. At the same time, he falls in love with Gloria, a Christian-born woman who has passionately embraced the Jewish faith. As in many of Appelfeld's works, the move away from tradition proves to be the first step to violence and destruction.

In 2004, Appelfeld published his next book, the memoir The Story of a Life. While previous works focused on the Jewish experience in a fictional setting, with fictional characters, Appelfeld's memoir recalls his own experiences growing up persecuted and pursued. From the perspective of a child, the author tells of his mother's murder, of being taken to and escaping from a concentration camp, and of hiding in the forest. The memoir's "sharp, unforgettable vignettes tell the truth," wrote Hazel Rochman in a review for Booklist. Like Rochman, many readers lauded Appelfeld for his revealing and honest portrayal of growing up during and surviving the Nazi persecution of the Jewish people. The Story of a Life is a "lyrical, impressionistic memoir," noted one Kirkus Reviews contributor.

Appelfeld addressed the Holocaust, and how to work toward a healing of the wound it inflicted on humanity, in a series of essays collected as Beyond Despair: Three Lectures and a Conversation with Philip Roth. In it, the author states his belief that survivors must call up all their memories, no matter how painful, in order to avoid living a numbed, meaningless life. Appelfeld demonstrates that if we want to understand, "we must dare to touch even this terrible event with the available instruments of language and imagination," declared Hoffman.

Despite the volatile nature of Appelfeld's work, he studiously refrains from proselytizing. He told Jonathan Yardley of Washington Post in 1981, "I am only a writer trying to explain the dark forces at work." It is unlikely that he will pursue his literary endeavors outside Israel, where he was reunited with his father in 1960. "I'm very happy to be a Jewish writer," Appelfeld confided in a New York Times interview in 1986.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Appelfeld, Aharon, Badenheim, 1939, translation by Bilu, David R. Godine (Boston, MA), 1980.

Appelfeld, Aharon, The Story of a Life, Schocken (New York, NY), 2004.

Contemporary Literary Criticism, Thomson Gale (Detroit, MI), Volume 23, 1983; Volume 47, 1988.

Reference Guide to Short Fiction, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 1994.

PERIODICALS

Antioch Review, winter 1987, review of To the Land of the Cattails, p. 120.

Booklist, May 1, 1984, review of Ha Kutonet Veha-Pasim, p. 1228; October 15, 1986, review of To the Land of the Cattails, p. 324; January 1, 1988, review of The Immortal Bartfuss, p. 748; May 1, 1989, review of For Every Sin, p. 1508; May 15, 1990, review of The Healer, p. 1776; May 15, 1992, Donna Seaman, review of Katerina, p. 1642; November 1, 1992, review of Mesilat Barzel, p. 493; March 1, 1994, review of Timayon, p. 1186; March 15, 1995, review of Laish, p. 1314; March 1, 1997, review of Ad She-Yaaleh Amud Ha-Shahar, p. 1115; January 1, 1998, Mary Ellen, review of The Iron Tracks, p. 773; December 1, 1999, review of Kol Asher Ahavti, p. 690; February 1, 2001, review of Masa El Ha-Horef, p. 1043; September 1, 2004, Hazel Rochman, review of The Story of a Life, p. 38.

Book World, February 20, 1994, review of Unto the Soul, p. 11; March 24, 1996, review of Badenheim, 1939, p. 9.

Chicago Tribune, August 8, 1990, Ron Grossman, "A Compelling Tale of Old vs. New," p. 53.

Christian Century, July 1, 1981, Robert Fyne, review of Badenheim, 1939, p. 712.

Christian Science Monitor, April 7, 1982, review of The Age of Wonders, p. 17; June 24, 1983, review of Tzili: The Story of a Life, p. 6; November 15, 1983, Bruce Allen, review of Tzili, p. 25; November 12, 1986, review of To the Land of Cattails, p. 38; September 23, 1992, Merle Rubin, review of Katerina, p. 13.

Commentary, August, 1983, Ruth R. Wisse, review of Tzili, p. 73.

Commonweal, March 13, 1987, review of To the Land of the Cattails, p. 155.

Dissent, spring, 2005, Matthew S. Schweber, review of The Story of a Life, p. 121.

Guardian Weekly, July 24, 1994, review of To the Land of the Reeds, p. 28.

Hudson Review, autumn, 1988, review of The Immortal Bartfuss, p. 556.

Independent (London, England), September 11, 2005, Matthew J. Reisz, review of The Story of a Life.

Jewish Social Studies, spring, 1995, review of Beyond Despair: Three Lectures and a Conversation with Philip Roth, p. 161.

Kirkus Reviews, December 1, 1993, review of Unto the Soul, p. 1474; August 15, 2004, review of The Story of a Life, p. 783.

Kliatt, September, 1994, review of The Healer, p. 4.

Library Journal, October 15, 1986, David W. Henderson, review of To the Land of the Cattails, p. 106; January, 1987, review of To the Land of the Cattails, p. 54; January, 1988, David W. Henderson, review of The Immortal Bartfuss, p. 96; April 15, 1989, David W. Henderson, review of For Every Sin, p. 98; March 15, 1990, review of The Age of Wonders and Badenheim, 1939, p. 119; June 1, 1990, David W. Henderson, review of The Healer, p. 173; June 1, 1992, Barbara Hoffert, review of Katerina, p. 172; April 15, 1995, review of Badenheim, 1939, p. 120; January, 1998, Ann Irvine, review of The Iron Tracks, p. 127; September 15, 2004, Frederic Krome, review of The Story of a Life, p. 55.

London Review of Books, October 20, 2005, review of The Story of a Life, p. 23.

Los Angeles Times, March 4, 1983, Elaine Kendall, "Tell the Story of a Life," p. 16; April 26, 1988, Elaine Kendall, "Life Returns to a Holocaust Survivor," p. 6; October 11, 1989, Jonathan Kirsch, "A Metaphorical Tale of the Holocaust," p. 3.

M2 Presswire, March 9, 2000, "York Centre for Jewish Studies Hosts Distinguished Voice of the Holocaust Aharon Appelfeld as Writer-in-Residence."

Manchester Guardian, September 24, 2005, Lisa Appignanesi, review of The Story of a Life.

MultiCultural Review, June, 1993, review of Katerina, p. 54.

Nation, January 31, 1981, Thomas Flanagan, review of Badenheim, 1939, p. 122; April 16, 1983, Blair T. Birmelin, review of Tzili, p. 483; December 31, 1990, Gabriel Motola, review of The Healer, p. 849.

New Leader, December 14, 1992, Elie Wiesel, review of Katerina, p. 24.

New Republic, February 14, 1981, Lesley Hazelton, review of Badenheim, 1939, p. 40; October 27, 1986, review of Badenheim, 1939, p. 36.

New Statesman, May 3, 1985, review of The Retreat, p. 31.

Newsweek, March 28, 1983, Jean Strouse, review of Tzili, p. 70; December 15, 1986, review of To the Land of the Cattails, p. 82.

New Yorker, January 5, 1987, review of To the Land of the Cattails, p. 85; September 4, 1989, review of For Every Sin, p. 106.

New York Review of Books, February 5, 1981, Gabriele Annan, review of Badenheim, 1939, p. 3; February 4, 1982, A. Alvarez, review of The Age of Wonders, p. 33; June 16, 1983, Robert M. Adams, review of Tzili, p. 34; January 15, 1987, D.J. Enright, review of To the Land of the Cattails, p. 40; September 28, 1989, Denis Donoghue, reviews of For Every Sin and The Immortal Bartfuss, p. 39; November 5, 1992, John Bayley, review of Katerina, p. 18; March 5, 1998, J.M. Coetzee, review of The Iron Tracks, p. 17.

New York Times, November 23, 1980, Irving Howe, review of Badenheim, 1939, p. 1; December 9, 1980, Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, "Unfamiliar Vacationers Death Seems Benign," p. 9; December 10, 1981, Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, review of The Age of Wonders, p. 27; April 3, 1984, Walter Goodman, review of The Retreat, p. 25; October 24, 1986, John Gross, review of To the Land of the Cattails, p. 24; November 15, 1986, Herbert Mitgang, review of To the Land of the Cattails, p. 11; May 11, 1989, Herbert Mitgang, review of For Every Sin, p. 2; September 30, 1992, Richard F. Shepard, "Aharon Appelfeld, Writer of Contradictions," p. 15.

New York Times Book Review, November 23, 1980, Irving Howe, review of Badenheim, 1939, p. 1; December 27, 1981, Joel Agee, review of The Age of Wonders, p. 1; February 27, 1983, Joyce Carol Oates, review of Tzili, p. 9; May 20, 1984, Jakov Lind, review of The Retreat, p. 38; November 2, 1986, Robert Alter, review of To the Land of the Cattails, p. 1; November 29, 1987, review of To the Land of the Cattails, p. 34; February 28, 1988, Leonard Michaels, review of The Immortal Bartfuss, p. 1; February 19, 1989, review of The Immortal Bartfuss, p. 32; May 21, 1989, Francine Prose, review of For Every Sin, p. 9; February 25, 1990, reviews of Badenheim, 1939 and The Age of Wonders, p. 38; September 23, 1990, Lore Segal, review of The Healer, p. 11; September 27, 1992, Judith Grossman, review of Katerina, p. 9; January 23, 1994, Eva Hoffman, "Let Memory Speak"; March 13, 1994, review of Katerina, p. 28; May 1, 1994, review of The Healer, p. 32; June 5, 1994, review of Beyond Despair, p. 27, and review of The Healer, p. 60; December 4, 1994, review of Beyond Despair, p. 69; April 2, 1995, review of Badenheim, 1939, p. 24; May 16, 1999, review of The Iron Tracks, p. 36; June 6, 1999, review of The Conversion, p. 34; December 5, 1999, review of The Conversion, p. 70.

Observer (London, England), August 21, 2005, Hephzibah Anderson, "One Man's Road to Freedom."

Publishers Weekly, August 29, 1986, Sybil Steinberg, review of To the Land of the Cattails, p. 386; December 25, 1987, Sybil Steinberg, review of The Immortal Bartfuss, p. 63; March 17, 1989, Sybil Steinberg, review of For Every Sin, p. 79; March 16, 1990, For Every Sin, p. 67; April 13, 1990, Sybil Steinberg, review of The Healer, p. 56; May 18, 1992, review of Katerina, p. 59; April 3, 1995, review of Badenheim, 1939, p. 58; December 1, 1997, review of The Iron Tracks, p. 46; January 19, 1998, Linda Wolfe, "Aharon Appelfeld: Re-telling the Unimaginable," p. 358; October 4, 2004, review of The Story of a Life, p. 78.

Saturday Review, November, 1981, Celia Betsky, review of The Age of Wonders, p. 77; December 1981, review of The Age of Wonders, p. 91.

Sunday Times (London, England), September 11, 2005, Theo Richmond, review of The Story of a Life.

Tikkun, September-October, 2006, Ben Naparstek, "Silence Is the Highest Language," p. 65.

Time, December 28, 1981, Paul Gray, review of The Age of Wonders, p. 69; May 28, 1984, John Skow, review of The Retreat, p. 3; February 22, 1988, R.Z. Sheppard, review of The Immortal Bartfuss, p. 85.

Times Literary Supplement, November 20, 1981, Idris Parry, review of Badenheim, 1939; April 8, 1988, Clive Sinclair, review of The Immortal Bartfuss, p. 383; September 1, 1989, Gabriel Josipovici, review of For Every Sin, p. 952; November 2, 1990, Bryan Cheyette, review of The Healer, p. 1182; December 4, 1992, review of Katerina, p. 9; August 4, 1995, Daniel Gunn, review of Katerina, p. 22; November 29, 1996, review of Unto the Soul, p. 14.

Translation Review, July, 1999, review of The Iron Tracks, p. 15.

Tribune Books (Chicago, IL), June 4, 1989, review of For Every Sin, p. 5; January 16, 1994, review of Unto the Soul, p. 1.

Virginia Quarterly Review, spring, 1993, review of Katerina, p. 60.

Voice Literary Supplement, December 1981, Walter Kendrick, review of The Age of Wonders.

Washington Post, December 16, 1981, Jonathan Yardley, "Growing Up with the Nazi Terror," p. 1; October 29, 1986, Jonathan Yardley, "Journey to Familiar Territory," p. 2.

World and I, April, 1999, review of The Conversion, p. 270.

World Literature Today, autumn, 1981, review of Badenheim, 1939, p. 721; autumn, 1982, review of The Age of Wonders, p. 745; winter, 1982, review of Mikhvat Ha-Ur, p. 172; autumn, 1983, review of Tzili, p. 682; summer, 1987, review of To the Land of the Reeds, p. 487; autumn, 1988, review of The Immortal Bartfuss, p. 722; summer, 1994, Gila Ramras-Rauch, review of Unto the Soul, p. 629; spring, 1995, Dov Vardi, review of Laish, p. 427; autumn, 1996, review of Ad She-Yaaleh Amud Ha-Shahar, p. 1022; January-April, 2005, "Aharon Appelfeld," p. 29.