Volume 43, Number 12 · July 11, 1996
The Book of Cohen
By John Weightman
Belle du Seigneur: A Novel
by Albert Cohen, translated and with an introduction by David Coward
Viking, 974 pp., $34.95
Translation, which, like the wind, bloweth where it listeth, has suddenly and for reasons unexplained presented the Anglo-American public with this remarkable book, some thirty years after its original publication in France. Albert Cohen (1895-1981) seems to be little known in the English-speaking world. If there have been previous English translations of his works, they are missing from the catalog of the British Library, and critical references are practically non-existent. This apparent lack of interest is surprising, given the fact that all Cohen's work has the same basic theme, which is quasi-universal: it is the pain, the drama, and the glory of being Jewish.
Review, 4550 words
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