Tree Trunks in the Snow: Four Jewish- Viennese Authors

Printed in Israel, 2023 (Hebrew) Bridges: Studies in the History of German and Central European Jewry Leo Baeck Istitute Jerusalem & The Zalman Shazar Center Jerusalem. 

 

Vienna, the cosmopolitan city at the turn of the century, was a vibrant hub of art and wealth, but also bore the weight of suffering and refugees. The city's spirit influenced the creations of significant writers who operated within its borders, including many of Jewish origin.

 

Tree Trunks in the Snow examines the works of four of these writers: Stefan Zweig and Joseph Roth, who wrote in German, and Gershon Shofman and David Vogel, who wrote in Hebrew. The discussion highlights the common ground on which these four creators emerged, despite writing in different languages and addressing diverse readerships, presenting various facets of Jewish existence in the German-speaking world.

​

​

​

The book offers a comparative reading that utilizes shared places and times to analyze the poetic and personal characteristics of each writer. The study explores the creative use of language and the underlying cultural myths, as well as the interpretations and societal meanings assigned to the works during their publication and in contemporary times. This shared reading places the works on one interconnected network, where reading one work deepens the understanding of another.