Review by Booklist Review
The four Jews of the title are Walter Benjamin, Theodor Adorno, Gershom Scholem, and Arnold Schonberg. Djerassi reveals that he chose the format of direct speech to present an easily grasped and humanizing view of four extraordinary intellectuals of the 20th century. He believes that from their youths, these men seemed convinced that they were destined for Parnassus; none of them ever discarded a scrap of writing, and if he did, one of his friends picked it up and preserved it. As a consequence, their literary output biographical, critical, interpretative, or revisionist is enormous. All four belonged to the peculiar subset of German and Austrian bourgeois Jews of the pre-World War II generation. In their works, the four discussed fraternity, religious identity, and legacy. They also talked about their relationships with their wives. The prodigiously illustrated book is a readable treatment of an important subject.--Cohen, George Copyright 2008 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Djerassi's latest project probably works better in theory than in practice: a "dramatized conversation" among "four extraordinary intellectuals of the twentieth century," philosopher Walter Benjamin, intellectuals Theodor W. Adorno and Gershom Scholem, and composer Arnold Schönberg. Djerassi decided on this group, he says, because they "belonged to the peculiar subset of German and Austrian bourgeois Jews of the pre-World War II generation... more Berlinish or Viennese than their non-Jewish compatriots" (not incidentally the same subset to which Djerassi assigns himself). In an attempt to provide further insight into the Jewish struggle with identity and the overlooked parts of these men's private lives, he imagines separate conversations among their wives as well (each an "accomplished and energetic" woman). Author, playwright and chemist (who developed the birth control pill) Djerassi (Cantor's Delimma: A Novel, This Man's Pill: Reflections on the 50th Birthday of the Pill) will pique readers' curiosity, but will probably only hold the attention of academics who don't mind a surfeit of esoteric references and philosophical flights of fancy. (Dec.) Copyright 2008 Reed Business Information.
Review by Library Journal Review
In the hands of wittily sardonic award-winning chemist Djerassi (professor emeritus, Stanford Univ.), also a novelist and playwright, these four titular mid-20th century Jewish intellectuals from Germany and Austria come back to life with vigor. Djerassi playfully-but with solid scholarship-places them in Plato-like dialog atop mythological Parnassus, home to the relevant Muses of poetry, music, and erudition. And these four fellows aren't just chin-wagging among themselves about prewar concepts: in one of the five scenes, their wives-most of whom figured either directly or indirectly in their husbands' adulterous affairs-are included. Paul Klee's viewpoints on Hitler are bandied about in another, and-in the only scene Djerassi creates from informed conjecture rather than documents-Walter Benjamin is implicated as a former-day hippie. Liberally peppered throughout, Seethaler's artwork illustrating the thinkers' supposed conversational gambits and philosophical points show how useful Photoshop could have been to any of them when he was writing during his lifetime. Some broad humor is laugh-out-loud (as when they can obtain new editions of each other's recently published letters from the Internet), but the imaginative text is faithful to their pursuits of intellectual truth and cultural relevance. For all academic and most public library collections.-Francisca Goldsmith, Halifax PL, N.S. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Booklist Review
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Review by Library Journal Review
