The Retrospective

by A.B. Yehoshua

Overview

A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice
Winner, 2012 Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger

“The greatest Hebrew novelist.” — Jewish Review of Books

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 arrives, a painting over his bed triggers a distant memory from one of his early films: a scene that caused a rift with his brilliant but difficult screenwriter. Upon his 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.

“[The Retrospective] moved me deeply.” — Vivian Gornick, The Nation

“[Yehoshua] achieves an autumnal tone as he ruminates on memory’s slippery hold on life and on art.” — The New Yorker

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780544157989
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	03/25/2014
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.90(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

A. B. Yehoshua (1936-2022) was born in Jerusalem to a Sephardi family. Drawing comparisons to William Faulkner and described by Saul Bellow as “one of Israel's world-class writers,” Yehoshua, an ardent humanist and titan of storytelling, distinguished himself from contemporaries with his diverse exploration of Israeli identity. His work, which has been translated into twenty-eight languages, includes two National Jewish Book Award winners (Five Seasons and Mr. Mani) and has received countless honors worldwide, including the International Booker Prize shortlist and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize (Woman in Jerusalem).

Editorial Reviews

"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 (starred review)

"Fascinating...beautiful."-Ha'ir, Israel "An ambitious, engrossing, playfully testamentary novel" — Moment "With beautiful wordsmanship, Yehoshua entangles dignity and humiliation, repugnance and rapture, showing us how difficult they become to distinguish." —Booklist “In his inimitable style, Yehoshua crafts a powerful allegory of modern Israeli Jewish identity.” – Ha’aretz "A study of the contested sources of Israeli identity" — Tablet "Resolutely realistic" — The Los Angeles Review of Books "Yehoshua delivers a stunning explanation of the ethics of art...A fluid and absorbing novel of ideas; highly recommended." — Library Journal, starred "An elegant and graceful translation...intelligent and refined." — Kirkus, starred "Richly plotted" — The Jewish Week "Yehoshua is one of Israel’s most highly acclaimed writers, and ‘The Retrospective’ showcases the author at his finest. He offers a compelling study of character, and a powerful meditation on personal pain and loss, memory, regret, and atonement….a carefully observed portrait of a country in a perpetual state of conflict." -The Jewish Daily Forward "Filled with detailed and realistic descriptions even as myth and memory are explored, The Retrospective is deeply satisfying, rich sto- rytelling from this outstand- ing Israeli writer." — The Chicago Jewish Star "Achieves an autumnal tone as he ruminates on memory’s slippery hold on life and on art." — The New Yorker —

From the Publisher