What do you think?
Rate this book
The Court Jesters
210pages. poche. broché.
169 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1989
49 people want to read
About the author
Avigdor Dagan
14 books3 followersAvigdor Dagan (אביגדור דגן, born Viktor Fischl) was an Israeli writer, playwright, literary translator and diplomat.
Also writes as אביגדור דגן
and Viktor Fischl
Also writes as אביגדור דגן
and Viktor Fischl
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
May 22, 2025
A story written simply of a topic that has been written by all who witnessed it and many others.
Amongst the suffering is a hopeful message.
Amongst the suffering is a hopeful message.
November 10, 2018
Somewhat difficult to follow at times.
August 30, 2022
A profound ending. Words of wisdom.
May 21, 2024
2.5 stars.
This is not your typical holocaust novel. The Court Jesters is basically an allegory or twisted fairy tale. It's about four Jewish prisoners, a dwarf, an astronomer, a juggler, and a clairvoyant hunchback, who become an SS commandant's personal sideshow. The dwarf dies shortly after the war and the juggler disappears, but the hunchback, (Kahana) and the astronomer (Max), meet again in Jerusalem many years later. They later reunite with Wahn, the juggler, now crippled after a terrorist bombing.
It was too introspective for me, personally. The book is focused almost entirely on the characters' internal thoughts and emotions, so there's not much of a plot. Not in the traditional sense. The main plot (if you could call it that) is an extended flashback about Wahn's quest to get revenge on the SS man who murdered his wife. The rest of the book is one long existential crisis. The characters struggle with their belief in God, how He could allow such an unimaginable evil to occur. In Wahn's case, whether or not to seek revenge.
For whatever the reason, I had a hard time getting into it. The characters were well-developed and had fascinating arcs. The prose was dreamlike. But all this philosophy and existentialist angst failed to capture my interest. If there had been more of an actual plot, I'd be a lot more forgiving. There were times I didn't feel like I was reading a novel, but a fictionalized essay. There are some truly thought-provoking ideas here, but the execution is dull and plodding more often than not.
This is not your typical holocaust novel. The Court Jesters is basically an allegory or twisted fairy tale. It's about four Jewish prisoners, a dwarf, an astronomer, a juggler, and a clairvoyant hunchback, who become an SS commandant's personal sideshow. The dwarf dies shortly after the war and the juggler disappears, but the hunchback, (Kahana) and the astronomer (Max), meet again in Jerusalem many years later. They later reunite with Wahn, the juggler, now crippled after a terrorist bombing.
It was too introspective for me, personally. The book is focused almost entirely on the characters' internal thoughts and emotions, so there's not much of a plot. Not in the traditional sense. The main plot (if you could call it that) is an extended flashback about Wahn's quest to get revenge on the SS man who murdered his wife. The rest of the book is one long existential crisis. The characters struggle with their belief in God, how He could allow such an unimaginable evil to occur. In Wahn's case, whether or not to seek revenge.
For whatever the reason, I had a hard time getting into it. The characters were well-developed and had fascinating arcs. The prose was dreamlike. But all this philosophy and existentialist angst failed to capture my interest. If there had been more of an actual plot, I'd be a lot more forgiving. There were times I didn't feel like I was reading a novel, but a fictionalized essay. There are some truly thought-provoking ideas here, but the execution is dull and plodding more often than not.
July 1, 2014
The Court Jesters is a different type of Holocaust fiction. The focus of the book is primarily on the lives of the characters after their liberation from the camp.
The narrator, a judge who no longer sits in judgment of anyone, recounts his experiences as on of four Jewish entertainers spared untimely death in the "court of Major Kohl."
The humpbacked judge has the uncanny ability to foretell the future. Max Himmelfarb reads the stars. Leo Reisenberg is a comic dwarf who is good for a laugh. And Adam Wahn amazes with his uninterruptable juggling. But a cruel act committed by one of Major Kohl's guests during an evening soiree alters the men's perceptions of good and evil irrevocably.
The war ends early in the book and three of the four emancipated Jews--Leo Reisenberg is killed in a freak accident--part ways for parts unknown. Years later the remaining men find each other in Jerusalem just after the Six Day War. Their stories, their beliefs, and their appraisal of God then become center stage.
Are the men merely jesters in the court of Almighty God? Does the finger of God unequivocally control man's existence? How can one explain the horrors of life as the will of a just and good God? The judge's search for answers to these questions ultimately brings him to a deep and lasting insight.
Avigdor Dagan is the Hebraic name of Viktor Fischl (1912-2006), a Czech writer who emigrated to Israel shortly after World War II.
The narrator, a judge who no longer sits in judgment of anyone, recounts his experiences as on of four Jewish entertainers spared untimely death in the "court of Major Kohl."
The humpbacked judge has the uncanny ability to foretell the future. Max Himmelfarb reads the stars. Leo Reisenberg is a comic dwarf who is good for a laugh. And Adam Wahn amazes with his uninterruptable juggling. But a cruel act committed by one of Major Kohl's guests during an evening soiree alters the men's perceptions of good and evil irrevocably.
The war ends early in the book and three of the four emancipated Jews--Leo Reisenberg is killed in a freak accident--part ways for parts unknown. Years later the remaining men find each other in Jerusalem just after the Six Day War. Their stories, their beliefs, and their appraisal of God then become center stage.
Are the men merely jesters in the court of Almighty God? Does the finger of God unequivocally control man's existence? How can one explain the horrors of life as the will of a just and good God? The judge's search for answers to these questions ultimately brings him to a deep and lasting insight.
Avigdor Dagan is the Hebraic name of Viktor Fischl (1912-2006), a Czech writer who emigrated to Israel shortly after World War II.
October 20, 2009
very engaging fiction.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews