The Teacher

by Michal Ben-Naftali, Daniella Zamir (Translator)

Overview

No one knew the story of Elsa Weiss. She was a respected English teacher at a Tel Aviv high school, but she remained aloof and never tried to befriend her students. No one ever encountered her outside of school hours. She was a riddle, and yet the students sensed that they were all she had. When Elsa killed herself by jumping off the roof of her apartment building, she remained as unknown as she had been during her life. Thirty years later, the narrator of the novel, one of her students, decides to solve the riddle of Elsa Weiss. Expertly dovetailing explosive historical material with flights of imagination, the novel explores the impact of survivor’s guilt and traces the footprints of a Holocaust survivor who did her utmost to leave no trace.

Ben-Naftali’s The Teacher takes us through a keenly crafted, fictional biography for Elsa—from childhood through adolescence, from the Holocaust to her personal aftermath—and brings us face to face with one woman’s struggle in light of one of history’s great atrocities.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781948830133
Publisher:	Open Letter
Publication date:	01/21/2020
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Michal Ben-Naftali was born in Tel Aviv in 1963. A writer, translator, and editor, she has published collections of essays, a novella, a memoir, and a novel, as well as many articles on literature, philosophy, and art, in Israel and abroad. Her translations from French to Hebrew include works by Jacques Derrida, André Breton, Marina Tsvetaeva, Maurice Blanchot, Julia Kristeva, Esther Orner, and Annie Ernaux. She has received the Prime Minister's Prize (2007) and the Haaretz prize for Best Literary Essay of the Year (2008). Her novel, The Teacher, won the 2016 Sapir Prize.

Daniella Zamir lives in Tel-Aviv, where she works as a literary translator. She obtained her bachelor’s degree in literature from Tel Aviv University, and her master’s degree in creative writing from City University in London.

Editorial Reviews

…absorbing and well crafted.

The New York Times Book Review - Jordana Horn

11/04/2019

Ben-Naftali’s captivating English-language debut is based on events of a Holocaust survivor’s life and subsequent suicide, as imagined by one of her former students. Elsa Weiss, an English teacher in Tel Aviv, is the favorite instructor of the nameless narrator. The narrator and her fellow students are fascinated by and afraid of their teacher, who they sense is hiding a mystery, though they are incapable of comprehending her hidden trauma. At 60, Weiss doesn’t even bother learning student’s names and seems different from their other teachers. The narrator grows up and becomes a teacher and remains mystified by Weiss. As an adult, she fictionalizes the path Weiss travels from her native Hungary after being separated from her parents in 1944 as she and her husband depart on a Kastner train to Palestine. The narrator imagines the atrocities that befall Weiss in the Bergen-Belsen camp and dreams that Weiss taught the imprisoned children. After her release from a sanatorium, Weiss learns the war is over, reunites with her brother’s family in Tel Aviv, and obtains a divorce. In researching Weiss, the narrator does some footwork and meets other survivors who tell her of the atrocities they witnessed. This heartbreaking novel is highlighted by Ben-Naftali’s spare prose and insightful observations. The author seamlessly blends history and fiction to forge a riveting novel. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

"a vivid, meticulously crafted look at trauma’s legacy"—Hephzibah Anderson, The Guardian

"A poignant memorial to someone whom no one remembers. . . . absorbing and well crafted."—The New York Times

"This heartbreaking novel is highlighted by Ben-Naftali’s spare prose and insightful observations. The author seamlessly blends history and fiction to forge a riveting novel."—Publishers Weekly

"a shattering portrayal of utter loneliness, guilt, and despair."—New York Journal of Books

"Winner of the Sapir Prize, one of Israel's highest literary honors, Ben-Naftali's haunting tale portrays a vanished woman finally found. Translator Zamir provides a vivid translation."—Terry Hong, Booklist

"At the intriguing intersection of history with humanity lies Michal Ben-Naftali’s The Teacher, a powerful peek into the psychology of trauma and a great book club pick for those seeking a challenging, deep discussion."—Jessie Horness, Foreword Reviews

"History, memory, and speculation converge in Michal Ben-Naftali’s The Teacher. It’s at times reminiscent of Philip Roth’s American Pastoral in the way that the blurred boundaries between these genres is a feature rather than a bug. Ben-Naftali begins with the death of a beloved teacher, and gradually reveals the story of a life abounding with historical trauma and impossible ethical decisions."—Tobias Carroll, Words Without Borders

From the Publisher

2019-10-14
One woman survives the Holocaust; decades later, another imagines what her life might have been like.

Elsa Weiss survived the Holocaust by obtaining a seat on the "Kastner train"—a train that smuggled more than 1,600 Jews to safety after Rudolf Kastner, a Hungarian Jewish journalist and lawyer, negotiated with Adolf Eichmann. Kastner's train was real; in this novel by Israeli writer Ben-Naftali—her first to be translated into English—the reality of Elsa Weiss is up for debate. Once she arrives in Israel, Elsa works for decades as an English teacher before stepping off the roof of her apartment building. The novel is narrated by one of her students, who goes unnamed and who makes a project out of understanding Elsa's life. That's not easy to do. No one, it seems, knows anything about Elsa. What follows, then, is a work of the narrator's imagining—a kind of novel within a novel. Why Ben-Naftali chose this framing device isn't entirely clear, since she doesn't make full use of it. The vast majority of the book is taken up with descriptions of Elsa's experiences; only occasionally are we reminded that the real Elsa was a cipher, that these descriptions are the narrator's imaginings. But Ben-Naftali doesn't fully explore what it might mean to imagine another person's life or what these fictions illuminate about the narrator herself. Then, too, the narration hovers at a distance, favoring third-person description over dialogue or scenes in the present. The constant exposition makes Elsa into an abstraction and the other characters into less, even, than that.

Ben-Naftali doesn't make full use of her material, and the result feels more tired than fresh.

Kirkus Reviews