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Published in USA
Mar 2013
352 pages
Genre: Novels
Publication Information
An aging Israeli film director has been invited to the pilgrimage city of Santiago de Compostela for a retrospective of his work. When Yair Moses and Ruth, his leading actress and longtime muse, settle into their hotel room, a painting over their bed triggers a distant memory in Moses from one of his early films: a scene that caused a rift with his brilliant but difficult screenwriter - who, as it happens, was once Ruth's lover. Upon their return to Israel, Moses decides to travel to the south to look for his elusive former partner and propose a new collaboration. But the screenwriter demands a price for it that will have strange and lasting consequences.
A searching and original novel by one of the world's most esteemed writers, The Retrospective is a meditation on mortality and intimacy, on the limits of memory and the struggle of artistic creation.
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"Starred Review. Yehoshua's intelligent and refined novel...about an aging Israeli director reviewing both his films and his life..recalls once again Faulkner's famous dictum that 'the past isn't dead. It isn't even past.'"- Kirkus
"In interviews, Yehoshua has mentioned Faulkner as an influence, and it shows. Some sentences are daunting in length and indicate the self-indulgence of the work as a whole. The author's insights into realism and surrealism, religiousness and secularism, and the creative process deserve greater exploration." - Publishers Weekly
"Fascinating...beautiful." - Ha'ir, Israel
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Photo: Dina Guna
One of Israel's preeminent writers, Abraham B. Yehoshua was born in Jerusalem in 1936 and today lives in Haifa. He is among the most widely recognized Israeli authors internationally, and is best known as a novelist and playwright. He has been awarded the Israel Prize, the Koret Jewish Book Award, and the National Jewish Book Award. Yehoshua's works include A Late Divorce, The Lover, Mr. Mani, and Open Heart.
Name Pronunciation
A. B. Yehoshua: Y-HOE-shua (the A is for Abraham, but he is always referred to as A.B.)
A timely novel that explores the human capacity for resiliency and compassion.
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