Goy
by Ranjit Chatterjee
This captivating autobiography explores one man's international search for a religious identity. Every step along this spiritual-cultural journey is redolent with existential metaphor and meaning; as the author is slowly drawn to the hidden Judaism of the post-modern philosophers and linguists, his relationship with God unfolds in an unexpected pattern.
From Goy:
"To be shown a way to the solution of the most besetting of human problems, within language, the field of one's study, was an unmatchable thrill."
"I came of age in Barbados. The physics teacher, Dennis, a rakish young Irishman with curly blond hair and a loud motorbike, inducted me into the night life at the port of Bridgetown, especially in the notorious district known as Nelson Street, crammed with rum bars and bawdy houses."
"I visited the grave of Rabbi Loew, the famous "Maharral of Prague" in the Old Jewish Cemetery by the Philosophical Faculty of Charles University. That, like Robert Frost's roads diverging in a yellow wood, may have made all the difference."
Chapters include:
- Origins
- In Barbados: Irish Monks and Czech Chemistry
- Gypsies, Golems, and Gravestones
- Deconstruction
- Fulfillment and Expectation
- To Singapore: Quantum Physics, a Descendant of Jane Austen
- Climbing Jacob's Ladder
- In the Garden
- Deconstruction (Reprise) - Let There Be Light
- Promised Land
- Life Takes the Stage
- Crossing Borders
- Catharsis
- Requiem Æternam Dona Eis
- A Goy Like Me?
- Jewish Tradition: From Kabbala to Woody Allen
- Return Again
- Service to the Nation
- Shaking Off the Dust
- Arab Hospitality
- Golden Doves
Paperback: $14.95. Copyright © 2009 by Ranjit Chatterjee. Licensed under a Creative Commons license. ISBN 978-1-935104-03-2. 236 pages.
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