Children and Fools by Erich Fried

Children and Fools by Erich Fried

The most widely read German poet of his time, Erich Fried was also a writer of wonderful prose. Children and Fools is the first publication of Fried's stories in English. In style they range from fable to autobiography. In time they move from earliest memories of the untrustworthiness of adults to exile in blacked-out, wartime London. From his spare account of St George's fight with the dragon to his realistic reportage on the third Reich, 'My Doll in Auschwitz', these pieces are tied together by a vehement anti-war sentiment and a delight in language. Fried's cunning sense of humour and fairy tale narratives are his way of dealing with devastating personal history of dislocation and persecution.

'Erich Fried was not only a poet but a skilful storyteller - both as a writer and in everyday lifeHis large repertory drew on two sources. One was life as seen by a Jewish boy growing up in Vienna in the twenties and thirties. The other was the tradition rooted in the shtetls of Eastern Europe which has produced extraordinary, funny, serious stories about the 'wunder-rabbis', their sayings and paradoxes. Behind Fried's delight in oddities, in the ridiculous nature of human existence there was a deep sadness caused by the shadow of the Holocaust. Typically he called his most moving account of that tragedy: "My Doll in Auschwitz"? Stuart Hood

Erich Fried was forced to flee Vienna in 1938 after his father's murder by the Gestapo. Fried escaped to London, where he lived until his death in 1988. Throughout his life, he was a much-loved figure on the German and Austrian literary and political scenes.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781852422110
ISBN 10	1852422114
Title	Children and Fools
Author	Erich Fried
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Profile Books Ltd
Year published	1992-10-15
Number of pages	176
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.