Yet again, Everything Will Be Illuminated [Archive]

Kafka

06-15-2009, 02:47 PM

Ohhh... I have so many questions, because I sped thru it and missed so much. Now, I am too lazy to read it again. If someone could help me, that would be great!

Questions not in any particular order at all:

Who is the letter in the last chapter written by? I am confused by all the Sasha in the letter. I think it is the character Jonathan Safran Foer, who wrote the letter, because I notice that parts of the letter was in the middle of the novel when Alex asked to see what Jon-fen was writing. What does the last letter signify?
Why did grandpa kill himself? And why at that point?
What has Yankel done? Why does he need to wear the beads of shame?
When Lista told the story of her sister - the pregnant woman who got shot, was that her own story?
What is the signaficance of "how do you arrange your books?" and what is the significance of arranging it by colours?
Jonathan's grandma's name is not mentioned in the novel, or maybe it was mentioned but I missed it. Anyone remember it?
Jonathan's grandma is also from Kolki. Alex's grandpa uttered a few times that he did not want to know who she was, why so?

mono

06-17-2009, 05:02 AM

Has anyone hear read books by Jonathan Safran Foer?
I would very much like to indulge in some constructive discussion about him, for about precisely his work there are many diverse opinions...
Indeedy, I read Everything Is Illuminated some time ago, recommended by a gorgeous young woman, and enjoyed it immensely. Foer certainly seems like the mysterious type of writer, and I loved the act of using synonyms from the average thesaurus in the act of writing the novel - original, strange, sometimes confusing, and a bit ambiguous.
Speaking of ambiguity, the main character's search for this town and for the woman who saved his grandfather's life seems something almost similar to a spiritual journey of determination, evolving creativity, and adventure (particularly with Sammy Davis, Jr., Jr.). There present many obvious cultural struggles, language barriers (for better or worse), and friendships through effort and tolerance. It ends with the precise thing, however - ambiguity - and one ends it with much of the feeling of completing a complex poem, uncovering its meanings with interpretation. I cannot claim to have understood Everything Is Illuminated fully, and have about as many questions as Kafka (the forumer, not author, of course), but loved the subjectivity in its meaning that communicated something along the lines of the sacredness of history, culture (and the integration of multiple cultures), and reverence.
The separation between two stories made itself quite prominent, indicated by the disparaties of language use between Alex and Jonathan, and one seemed to focus upon a present-tense, while the other a past-tense that jumped from centuries ago to the times of World War II, when Jonathan's Jewish family suffered torture and death; for Jonathan, his family's past seems an adventure and worth re-exploring, for Alex, Jonathan's trip seems an adventure in itself, and Alex's grandfather and his "seeing-eye *****" seem relatively latent characters until they encounter Augustine (and I believe they truly found her, the woman who saved Jonathan's grandfather). How Alex's "blind" grandfather (though he drove almost directly to that town) had some relation to Augustine, and she certainly acknowledged an obvious familiarity, tells me that he may have lived or originated from the same town, the name of which I cannot recall, and experienced entirely the torture of WWII soldiers, explaining why he had "tears in his eyes" during her explanation of the story - his blindness plays a key role in the fact that he had likely denied his past, and Augustine restored his sight, so to speak, by reinventing a product of his eyes, tears; the grandfather's eventual death relates to closure of such an experience.
I questioned some sort of familial relation between Alex and Jonathan, but could not locate anything; their only connection, to me, seemed Jonathan's grandfather's hero, Augustine, and Alex's "blind" grandfather, who encountered a revolution and reminder of his past - this unrecalled town seemed a center, unmarked now following its tragedy, consisting mostly of a field, saturated with memories. That they had some relation, however, and possibly came from the same town, makes me wonder whether Alex's and Jonathan's past may have intertwined somewhere, and if Jonathan's ancestor's could have escaped the town to America, where Jonathan came from originally - just an idea. In other words, the novel seems designed to leave one in question, and I cannot decipher what occurred entirely, but that all three men, young and old, own a quest, intentional or not, to intermingle cultures, grow tolerance, and show their weaknesses ("blindness," a paralyzed arm, a weakness in English vocabulary, etc.).

I can answer a few of your questions, Kafka, with some confidence:

Who is the letter in the last chapter written by? I am confused by all the Sasha in the letter. I think it is the character Jonathan Safran Foer, who wrote the letter, because I notice that parts of the letter was in the middle of the novel when Alex asked to see what Jon-fen was writing. What does the last letter signify?
Alex's grandfather, I believe.

Why did grandpa kill himself? And why at that point?
After meeting with Augustine, and after Jonathan returned to America, having acknowledged his past suffering and "restored his sight," so to speak.

When Lista told the story of her sister - the pregnant woman who got shot, was that her own story?
No, Augustine described, I think I recall, Lista as her sister. Whether Lista's fetus seemed of any significance, in terms of the story, other than adding a disturbing quality, I feel unsure.

What think you, Chava? ;)