Think About

Writing Love One of the great themes of The History of Love is the At the core of The History of Love is a love story that www.uta.edu/onebook power of writing and storytelling. Writing is a way of spans 70 years and three continents. It is also a story knowing ourselves, understanding the world and surviv- about the love that binds families together. Consider the 2008–09 ing. As you power of Leo’s love for Alma Welcome read, identify Mereminski and his son, Isaac. elcome to the UT Arling- the theme of “Connections” for our all of them. When we emerge from those charac- Key Passages Pay attention to the relationship ton OneBook Program! Conversations program. the final pages of the novel, it is with ters that are between Zvi and Rosa and the Every year, our program a deep and moving appreciation of ere are some interesting passages to W The History of Love celebrates life selects a book for all incoming first- our shared humanity, whatever our authors and think about as you read The History budding relationship between year students to study, in the face of adversity. age, nationality and life experience. consider the of Love by Nicole Krauss. As you Alma and Misha. Is love some- motivations H thing that these and other char- discuss and It affirms our ability to read and reread, look for other quotes that write about conquer isolation and that drive them you think are significant for generating ideas acters succeed in expressing to in their first find connection with one Before You Start to be writers. How do their about the novel. each other? styles of writing differ? What semester another and the world s you begin reading, keep in that surrounds us. can we learn from them about Once upon a time there was a boy. He English com- mind that the novel tells the Identity position class, writing? As you consider these lived in a village that no longer exists, in a In the novel, we meet stories of four main charac- house that no longer exists, on the edge freshman A questions, keep in mind that the We need to know something several unforgettable ters, each one identified in the book of a field that no longer exists, where seminars and UT Arlington Writing Center about our families and our characters: a Polish with an icon that is used at the head and the Central Library’s Pa- everything was discovered and everything families’ history to answer the selected other of each chapter. Leo Gursky’s icon was possible. A stick could be a sword. survivor of the Holo- pers’ Due Drop Inn can help you question “who am I?” We also classes. is a heart, Alma Singer’s A pebble could be a diamond. A tree a caust who does not research, revise and format your define our identities based on is a compass, Zvi Litvi- castle. (11) Each year, the want to die alone and writing. our relationships with others and noff’s is an open book UT Arlington unnoticed; a girl who Every fourteen-year-old should know on national, ethnic and religious and Bird Singer’s is an Conversations struggles to come to something about where she comes from, categories. How do different ark. Grief and program selects terms with the loss my mother said. It wouldn’t do to go characters in the novel define of her father to can- around without the faintest clue of how it a theme from the Also, in The History of Loneliness their identities? Are identities cer; a solitary, ex- all began. (51) OneBook and Love, Alma Singer is an Many of the characters in The ever contradictory or false? sponsors events iled writer haunted “Active Learner.” She History of Love struggle with Relate the problem of identity And then I started to think about her. Alma. and activities by nightmares of asks questions, takes grief and loneliness. They to the themes of writing/self- Who was she? My mother would say she designed to bring the Holocaust; a lonely boy notes and researches mourn the loss of family mem- was everyone, every girl and every woman expression and loneliness/grief. together the entire university com- who believes that God has destined what she needs to know. bers to disease, war and distance that anyone ever loved. But the more I Everything is connected! munity, programming we believe is him for great things and many other As readers of the One- and search for ways to commu- thought about it, the more I thought she central to the experience of learning. memorable characters. Book, you too should be nicate their feelings and connect also must have been someone. (108) an Active Learner. Read with pen in with others in a world that is Connections For the 2008-2009 academic year, Although at first we do not know The truth is the thing I invented so I could hand to talk back to the author and often impersonal and discon- “Connections” is the theme that how all of these characters are con- live. (167) we are proud to present the critically mark significant or confusing pas- nected. As you read, think about UT Arlington Conversations nected, we put the pieces together as acclaimed, award-winning novel The sages. Ask questions. Come together the effects of loneliness and ...I thought, An average of seventy-four has selected to frame our dis- we read, discovering the delightfully History of Love by Nicole Krauss with others to talk about the book. grief on individual characters. species become extinct every day, which cussions about The History of as the UT Arlington OneBook, and surprising interconnections among What are the different ways was one good reason but not the only one Love. How does the book that they respond to these feelings? to hold someone’s hand... (202) Charlotte Singer is translating Do they overcome them or not? connect characters together? Biography Grief and loneliness are uni- Look for unexpected instances versal feelings that all of us must face at different times in which references to astronauts, paleontology, gravity, icole Krauss was born in New York City in 1974. Her previous novel, Man Walks in our lives. Sometimes when we feel overwhelmed, evolution and botany connect Into a Room, won France’s Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger, and was short-listed for talking about these feelings can help. If you ever need to the novel’s broader themes. Nthe Orange, Médicis, and Femina prizes. Her fiction has been published inThe New help, please contact UT Arlington Counseling Services at Think about the barriers that Yorker, Harper’s, Esquire, and Best American Short Stories, and, in 2007, she was selected as 817-272-3671, www.uta.edu/counseling. keep people apart and the one of Granta’s Best Young American Novelists. Her books have been translated into more ways in which different char- than thirty languages. acters overcome them. Nicole Krauss © Joyce Ravid, all rights reserved Saint Petersburg, Russia The World of The History of Love Slonim, Belarus The Literary Worlds of The History of Love Birthplace of Misha (Formerly Poland) Shklovsky. Birthplace of Alma he History of Love by Nicole Krauss contains references to many authors and books London, United Mereminski and Leo Gursky. from around the world. Below are a few examples that are important for an understand- Kingdom ing and appreciation of the book. Birthplace of Odessa, Ukraine T Charlotte Singer. Birthplace of Isaac Babel (Russia, 1894-1940): Babel children’s books Drogobych, Ukraine writer Isaac Babel, (Formerly Poland) 1894-1940. is the author of The Odessa Tales (1916) of all times, The Birthplace of writer Bruno and is widely admired for his sophisticated Little Prince (1943). New York City, Schulz, 1892-1942. treatment of place and language. The Soviet Saint-Ex is one of New York Madrid, Spain authorities found Babel’s aesthetic sensibility Alma’s heroes for Home of Leo Gursky Birthplace of writer Miguel de and Alma Singer. Cervantes, 1547-1616. a threat and had him killed. Both Leo Gursky a good reason: like Tel Aviv, Israel and Zvi Litvinoff in The History of Love are her, he is an explorer Lyon, France Birthplace of David admirers of Babel. Notice how Leo’s de- who connects people © Jo Duffy Birthplace of writer Singer. and aviator Antoine scription of Babel echoes Zvi’s description together. (50, 104) de Saint Exupéry, of Leo’s writing style. (114-116) 1900-1944. Nicanor Parra (Chile, 1914-): Parra is one Miguel de Cervantes (Spain, 1547-1616): of Latin America’s greatest living poets. Charlotte Singer tells her daughter Alma He is the author of Poems and Anti-Poems that Cervantes is (1954), which Charlotte Singer translates “The most famous into English. Jacob Marcus reads the transla- Spanish writer.” tion and asks her to translate Zvi Litvinoff’s Cervantes is the book The History of Love. Parra wears an author of Don astronaut lapel pin, like Jacob Marcus does. Quixote de la (55, 94, 103) Mancha (1605), a novel about a man who loved reading so Bruno Schulz (Poland, 1892-1842): Both Buenos Aires, much that he went mad. Like The History of Jacob Marcus and Alma Singer read Schulz’s Argentina Valparaíso, Chile The Street of Crocodiles City where David Singer Love by Nicole Krauss, Don Quixote is full Home of Zvi Litvinoff. bought The History of Love. of multiple voices and stories. (146) (1934). Schulz’s style is similar to episodes from About This Guide Antoine de St. Exupéry (France, Zvi’s The History of This guide was written by Dr. Chris Conway of the Department 1900-1944): St. Exupéry (or Saint-Ex Love. Schulz, who was of Modern Languages and Evelyn Barker and C.D. Walter of UT Chillan, Chile Arlington Library. Special thanks to Joshua Vossler, UT Arlington as Alma Singer calls him) was a French Jewish like Leo, was Birthplace of poet Library, and Margaret Lowry, Department of English. aviator who wrote one of the most beloved killed by the Nazis in 1942. (103, 144 , 194) Nicanor Parra, 1914-. This document is available in alternative formats upon request by contacting Evelyn Barker at 817-272-6064. or more information, visit two exhibits that will be on display at the UT Arlington Cen- www.uta.edu/onebook tral Library in Fall 2008: Looking for Don Quixote in Brooklyn (September 2008) and FThe Best Books Never Written (October 2008). If you pay close attention to these exhib- its, you’ll glean some invaluable information and great ideas for your English 1301 papers! Glossary One of the Hebrew words for bear the world’s suffering and sins. merical value, and since the letters in come. The Jewish messiah must should be inscribed on doorposts and Characters יהוה God, often transliterated as YHWH This tradition also holds that these chai add up to eighteen, that number be descended from King David, will upon gates. Bruno Leo’s boyhood friend Isaac Moritz Successful author her family’s past in her journal or Yahweh. Jews consider YHWH as people exist in secret, unknown to has gained symbolic meaning in appear during a time of great crisis Tzaddik Literally “righteous one”; a who became Leo’s companion and son of Alma Mereminski and becomes interested in her God’s proper name, and to pro- each other, or even themselves. Judaism. to save the Jews, will lead Israel, kind of saint or holy person. Tzad- during his later years. and Leo Gursky. mother’s mysterious correspon- nounce it is blasphemy. Hence, when Although the term lamed vovnik and will gather together exiled Jews Mezuzah Literally means “doorpost.” dikim are experts of the Torah (the writing, some Jews omit the vowel appears to include the English word before ushering in an age of peace in dent, Jacob Marcus. Refers to the miniature parchment first five parts of the Hebrew Bible), Leo Gursky Polish Holocaust Alma Mereminski The love of in the word God, writing it instead as lame (disabled), it is actually the which the world will unite under the scroll and decorative holder affixed to community leaders, and spiritual survivor living in New York who Leo’s life and the name of every Alma’s brother. He “G-d.” Because words carry symbolic Hebrew word for thirty, with vov Jewish God. Bird Singer the right side of doorposts in Jewish role models. Traditionally, this role is power in Judaism, anything with being the word for six. The number seeks to maintain visibility. female character in the novel believes he is a lamed vovnik homes, businesses, and institutions. Shema gisrael adona, elohanu passed from father to son. sacred words written on it must be thirty-six has mystical significance in This scroll contains a handwritten adonai echad A Jewish prayer. The History of Love. and is obsessed with building treated with respect. the Jewish culture, because it is the Yiddish A Germanic, predominantly Zvi Litvinoff Friend of Leo’s text of the first two paragraphs of the “Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God, an ark. product of eighteen times two, with Jewish language. The word Yiddish from Poland who immigrated to Misha Shklovsky Russian boy Literally “thirty-sixer,” Shema prayer. It is thought to protect the Lord is One.” According to the Lamed vovnik eighteen being a number symboli- literally means “Jewish.” It uses the Chile during the Holocaust. He who moves to Brighton Beach, The mother of lamed vovniks are thirty-six special homes and the people who live there, book of Deuteronomy, these words Charlotte Singer cally associated with life. Hebrew alphabet and is written from Tzaddikim upon whom the continued and to serve as a daily reminder to should be recited when one lies later publishes the novel The NY, and befriends Alma Singer. Alma and Bird. right to left. Traditionally, Yiddish existence of the world depends. L’chaim A toast meaning “to life!” not sin. down, rises up, and should be bound is the language spoken at home, History of Love in Chile. According to Jewish tradition, these From chai, the Hebrew word for life. to one’s arm and forehead, and Alma Singer 14-year-old living David Singer The father of Moshiach Messiah. Jewish tradition while Hebrew is the language of the thirty-six men and women humbly Each letter in the Hebrew has a nu- on Long Island who writes about Alma and Bird. holds that the messiah has not yet synagogue.