Comedy in a Minor Key

Posted on 14 April 2017 by Hans Keilson

A penetrating study of ordinary people resisting the Nazi occupation and, true to its title, a dark comedy of wartime manners Comedy in a Minor Key tells the story of Wim and Marie, a Dutch couple who first hide a Jew they know as Nico, then must dispose of his body when he dies of pneumonia This novella, first published in 1947 and now translated into English for the first time, shows Hans Keilson at his best deeply ironic, penetrating, sympathetic, and brilliantly modern, an heir to Joseph Roth and Franz Kafka In 2008, when Keilson received Germany s prestigious Welt Literature Prize, the citation praised his work for exploring the destructive impulse at work in the twentieth century, down to its deepest psychological and spiritual ramifications Published to celebrate Keilson s hundredth birthday, Comedy in a Minor Key and The Death of the Adversary, reissued in paperback will introduce American readers to a forgotten classic author, a witness to World War II and a sophisticated storyteller whose books remain as fresh as when they first came to light. Download Comedy in a Minor Key Author Hans Keilson – kino-fada.fr 3.5 intriguing, lacking,please stars Hans Keilson was a psychotherapist who worked with children with traumas His novel Comedy in a Minor Key was published in 1947 and I believe translated into English in 2010 to honor his 100th birthday In 2008 he was honored with the German Welt literature prize This novella is described as a black comedy A young dutch couple take in a middle aged Sephardic Jew and hide him in their home during the Second World War This is not a spoilerth 3.5 intriguing, lacking,please stars Hans Keilson was a psychotherapist who worked with children with traumas His novel Comedy in a Minor Key was published in 1947 and I believe translated into English in 2010 to honor his 100th birthday In 2008 he was honored with the German Welt literature prize This novella is described as a black comedy A young dutch couple take in a middle aged Sephardic Jew and hide him in their home during the Second World War This is not a spoilerthe Jewish man dies in their home What are they to do I felt mixed about this book as parts of it were insightful, almost brilliant and other sections felt like a dated, stale 1950 s stage play I found very little funny and I found the characters not that well drawn out or specific It is interesting that the author is compared to Kafka as I felt very similarly about his supposed ma...Go google Hans Keilson No, I m not kidding Go read his Wikipedia entry or one of the articles that come up about him and then come back to this review Yeah That s a pretty crazy life history, right Sort of makes you want to read his book even if it s horrible Good news the book s not horrible In fact, I d even say The New York Times wasn t exaggerating when they called this book a masterpiece During WWII, a young couple hides a Jewish man in their home and all is going well until he die Go google Hans Keilson No, I m not kidding Go read his Wikipedia entry or one of the articles that come up about him and then come back to this review Yeah That s a pretty crazy life history, right Sort of makes you want to read his book even if it s horrible Good news the book s not horrible In fact, I d even say The New York Times wasn t exaggera...One of the very first Holocaust themed novels, published in 1947, it concerns a young, naive Dutch couple who agree to hide a Jewish man in their home during WWII Then, he dies of pneumonia What to do with a Jewish corpse under the Nazi occupation Quietly powerful.Somebody will just have to clue me in to why this book is so special You feel like you are reading the lines of a play rather than a novel There are sentences such as on the table were three dirty cups and a newspaper or he carried the bag in his left hand Phrases are repeated we, the audience, are being told to pay attention.so that a message can be relayed I found this annoying.Time and time again I thought that doesn t make sense one would not do that or think that The story is Somebody will just have to clue me in to why this book is so special You feel like you are reading the lines of a play rather than a novel There are sentences such as on the table were three dirty cups and a newspape...This story of a young Dutch couple who hide a Jewish stranger for a year in their home is a gem Wim and Marie are not committed to a cause or outraged by outside influences, but they are ordinary, decent people acting out of human kindness The narrative is presented elliptically, probing the emotions of the couple and the man they know as Nico who dies of pnemonia before liberation, thus presenting a dilemma of how to dispose of the body The comedy referred to in the title isabout the c This story of a young Dutch couple who hide a Jewish stranger for a year in their home is a gem Wim and Marie are not committed to a cause or outraged by outside influences, but they are ordinary, decent people acting out of human kindness The narrative is presented elliptically, probing the emotions of the couple and the man they know as Nico who dies of pnemonia before liberation, thus presenting a dilemma of how to dispose of t...A Dutch couple, Wim and Marie, are hiding a Jew upstairs And then he dies.Hans Keilson just died this year at 101 His books, including this one written in 1947, have been newly and brilliantly translated and republished You can read this on a flight from Dallas Fort Worth to Pittsburgh Nico, the Jew upstairs, tells this wonderful couple, It is not just the Jews Maybe it will be Wim and Marie too I m no plot spoiler though A Comedy in a Minor Key is indeed told in the Dorian mode A lovel A Dutch couple, Wim and Marie, are hiding a Jew upstairs And then he dies.Hans Keilson just died this year at 101 His books, including this one written in 1947, have been newly and brilliantly translated and republished You can read this on a flight from Dallas Fort Worth t...E quando um casal acolhe em casa um judeu em fuga e de repente tudo muda Durante a segunda guerra mundial, muitos judeus foram ajudados pelas popula es, mantiveram se escondidos, n o sofreram os horrores dos campos de...The premise is simple enough A married couple, Wim and Marie, decide to take in a Jew named Nico during World War II In hiding him, the comfortably middle class Wim and Marie learn what it means to live the precarious life of a Jew in 1940s Holland, in what would have otherwise been a set of rather ordinary circumstances Soon afterwards, Nico becomes ill and eventually dies in their house, leaving the couple in the unique position of needing to dispose of a body no one can know they had there The premise is simple enough A married couple, Wim and Marie, decide to take in a Jew named Nico during World War II In hiding him, the comfortably middle class Wim and Marie learn what it means to live the precarious life of a Jew in 1940s Holland, in what would have otherwise been a set of rather ordinary circumstances Soon afterwards, Nico becomes ill and eventually dies in their house, leaving the couple in the unique position of needing to dispose of a body no one can know they had there in the first place They eventually leave him wrapped in blankets in a nearby par...I believe in the clich Brevity is the soul of wit Too often over the years, a book has made me feel like the author was being paid by the word I appreciate books whose author doesn t waste words Comedy in a Minor Key is a perfect example to me of how succinctness doesn t have to compromise the story, and in fact, how succinctness can work in the favor of a story s overall construct The book tells the story of a Dutch couple Wim and Marie during WWII who are providing secret housing for I believe in the clich Brevity is the soul of wit Too often over the years, a book has made me feel like the author was being paid by the word I appreciate books whose author doesn t waste words Comedy in a Min...As another reviewer suggested, I did read some facts about Hans Keilson s life before reading this short novel, and the fact that he actually hid in someone s home to escape the holocaust maybe gave some added weight to it But I think I would have enjoyed it anyway It s weird to read about the trivial embarrassments and secretive uncertainties muchthan the serious dangers involved in saving someone s life in this way and dealing with having them around all the time And on the part of As another reviewer suggested, I did read some facts about Hans Keilson s life before reading this short novel, and the fact that he actually hid in someone s home to escape the holocaust maybe gave some added weight to it But I think I would hav...

English
14 April 2017

Hans Keilson