A Table for One: Under the Light of Jerusalem

by Aharon Appelfeld

A Table for One is set in the intimate Jerusalem cafes of the 1950's and 1960's where the scent of fresh roasted coffee and cigarette smoke wafted in with the elan of a lost European culture. The writer's son, Meir Appelfeld, paints cityscapes, vistas of the city, where he himself lives.

Genres: Israel, Nonfiction, Jewish

142 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

AHARON APPELFELD is the author of more than forty works of fiction and nonfiction, including Until the Dawn's Light and The Iron Tracks (both winners of the National Jewish Book Award) and The Story of a Life (winner of the Prix Médicis Étranger). Other honors he has received include the Giovanni Bocaccio Literary Prize, the Nelly Sachs Prize, the Israel Prize, the Bialik Prize, the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize, and the MLA Commonwealth Award. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and has received honorary degrees from the Jewish Theological Seminary, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, and Yeshiva University.

Reviews

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book for readers interested in how Jerusalem influenced Appelfeld's writing. It's also a nice look at the early years of the State Of Israel, and Jerusalem in particular.

Appelfeld arrived in Jerusalem at the age of 14, after 7 years of living in the forests of the Carpathian mountains. He describes having felt like "prey running always from the hunter." At age 7 he saw his mother murdered and was almost murdered himself. He was reunited with his father in Jerusalem. Upon arrival in Israel he had no ambitions to become a writer. He studied for two and a half years in Youth Aliyah and then did his army service. His ambition, or "illusion" as he calls it, was to become an Israeli. He tried to harden his body through various "unpleasant physical exertions," but his body would not change. So, his first attempts at writing were to bring about in words what he "couldn't bring about in life." He hangs out at Cafe Peter which to him "was more than a home."

"The people who frequented Cafe Peter in those years had come from Transylvania, Hungary, Bukovina, and Bulgaria; they spoke the languages of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. "Everything there - the taste of the food, the manners, the tone of speech, the silence between the sentences-was just as it had been at home.....No sooner was I through the doorway, than I knew that these people were my lost uncles and cousins. I was so enchanted by the place that whenever I had a spare hour I would rush over, and sit there spellbound."

All exiles had their favorite cafes, homes away from their now non-existent homes in Europe. They would gather there every day to talk or just to have a place to think, write, and socialize. In cafes Appelfeld met and learned from all of the great writers in Jerusalem at that time, including S.Y. Agnon and Gershom Sholem.

Applefeld would reward himself for writing a good page by taking walks to places he loved. Some of these places were the homes of good friends, like Leib Rochman, a Yiddish writer. Or he would walk around his own neighborhood.

For a rare glimpse in to this writer's mind and the city he loves, this brief memoir is a must.

[Simon Freeman · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best book on writing and art I have read since Hemingway’s “Moveable Feast”.

[Sharon Jihad Levine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! It also included artwork by Appelfeld's son, Meir. Appelfeld opens up and talks about his early experiences in Jerusalem, the people and writers he meets along the way, and how Jerusalem becomes "his" city. He also gives us a glimpse into the cafes of Jerusalem and the people who frequent them. Appelfeld opens up and shares his writing process. He talks about the experience of "uprootedness" and how it affects all aspects of his life and the lives of his friends, and his writing. If you have read his other works, you'll recognize how he includes his personal experiences and people he's met along the way into his novels. It's almost like a memoir #2 from "A Story of a Life."

[Perlie · Rating 5 out of 5]

While ostensibly a story of Jerusalem's cafes of the 50s and 60s, this is actually a memoir with ruminations on religion, faith, authenticity, trauma and its expressions, and having an inner life.
There were many pages where I wanted to underline whole passages, and I felt as though I was hearing from the author himself -- not reminiscences, but actually as though he was speaking to me directly. This is an intimate and personal book where Appelfeld shares what's in his heart and mind. I found it touching, and will re-read it. He also mentions many other Jewish and Israeli authors of his time, sparking me to make new 'to read' lists!

[Laura Simon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written book by Aharon Appelfeld about his writing in the cafes of Jerusalem. Deeply introspective and insightful. Loved this book!

[Simon Freeman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply the best book about writing ever written. It demands to be read and re read