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Osnabrück Station to Jerusalem
An inventive literary account of Cixous's remarkable journey to her mother's birthplace
Winner, French Voices Award for Excellence in Publication and Translation
For about eighty years, the Jonas family of Osnabr�ck were part of a small but vibrant Jewish community in this mid-size city of Lower Saxony. After the war, Osnabr�ck counted not a single Jew. Most had been deported and murdered in the camps, others emigrated if they could and if they managed to overcome their own inertia. It is this inertia and failure to escape that H�l�ne Cixous seeks to account for in Osnabr�ck Station to Jerusalem.
Vicious anti-Semitism hounded all of Osnabr�ck's Jews long before the Nazis' rise to power in 1933. So why did people wait to leave when the threat was so patent, so in-their-face? Drawn from the stories told to Cixous by her mother, �ve, and grandmother, Rosalie (Rosi), this literary work reimagines fragments of �ve's and Rosi's stories, including the death of �ve's uncle, Onkel Andr�. Piecing together the story of Andreas Jonas from what she was told and from what she envisages, Cixous recounts the tragedy of the one she calls the King Lear of Osnabr�ck, who followed his daughter to Jerusalem only to be sent away by her and to return to Osnabr�ck in time to be deported to a death camp.
Cixous wanders the streets of the city she had heard about all her life in her mother's and grandmother's stories, digs into its archives, meets city officials, all the while wondering if she should have come. These hesitations and reflections in the present, often voiced in dialogues staged with her own son or daughter, are woven with scenes from her childhood in Algeria and the half-remembered, half-invented stories of the Jonas family, making Osnabr�ck Station to Jerusalem one of the author's most intensely engaging books.
This work received the French Voices Award for excellence in publication and translation. French Voices is a program created and funded by the French Embassy in the United States and FACE (French American Cultural Exchange).
Winner, French Voices Award for Excellence in Publication and Translation
For about eighty years, the Jonas family of Osnabr�ck were part of a small but vibrant Jewish community in this mid-size city of Lower Saxony. After the war, Osnabr�ck counted not a single Jew. Most had been deported and murdered in the camps, others emigrated if they could and if they managed to overcome their own inertia. It is this inertia and failure to escape that H�l�ne Cixous seeks to account for in Osnabr�ck Station to Jerusalem.
Vicious anti-Semitism hounded all of Osnabr�ck's Jews long before the Nazis' rise to power in 1933. So why did people wait to leave when the threat was so patent, so in-their-face? Drawn from the stories told to Cixous by her mother, �ve, and grandmother, Rosalie (Rosi), this literary work reimagines fragments of �ve's and Rosi's stories, including the death of �ve's uncle, Onkel Andr�. Piecing together the story of Andreas Jonas from what she was told and from what she envisages, Cixous recounts the tragedy of the one she calls the King Lear of Osnabr�ck, who followed his daughter to Jerusalem only to be sent away by her and to return to Osnabr�ck in time to be deported to a death camp.
Cixous wanders the streets of the city she had heard about all her life in her mother's and grandmother's stories, digs into its archives, meets city officials, all the while wondering if she should have come. These hesitations and reflections in the present, often voiced in dialogues staged with her own son or daughter, are woven with scenes from her childhood in Algeria and the half-remembered, half-invented stories of the Jonas family, making Osnabr�ck Station to Jerusalem one of the author's most intensely engaging books.
This work received the French Voices Award for excellence in publication and translation. French Voices is a program created and funded by the French Embassy in the United States and FACE (French American Cultural Exchange).
144 pages, Hardcover
First published February 12, 1999
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120 people want to read
About the author
Hélène Cixous
193 books853 followersHélène Cixous is a Jewish-French, Algerian-born feminist well-known as one of the founders of poststructuralist feminist theory along with Luce Irigaray and Julia Kristeva. She is now a professor of English Literature at University of Paris VIII and chairs the Centre de Recherches en Etudes Féminines which she founded in 1974.
She has published numerous essays, playwrights, novels, poems, and literary criticism. Her academic works concern subjects of feminism, the human body, history, death, and theatre.
She has published numerous essays, playwrights, novels, poems, and literary criticism. Her academic works concern subjects of feminism, the human body, history, death, and theatre.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
January 17, 2023
When an avant-garde writer, who is also a philosopher, a literary critic, a scholar and a feminist, all in one, publishes a book inspired by her family history, I am all ears. Or rather all eyes, as I bought the e-book.
Hélène Cixous is known for her experimental writing and Osnabrück Station to Jerusalem (1999) is no exception. It is an artistically bold and innovative take on the theme of the Holocaust and inherited trauma. It is also a smooth blend of historical reportage, a family chronicle, a novel, an essay and a poem.
I liked the structure of Hélène Cixous’s book, especially the creative way she is reconnecting with her family's past. At first sight, it is a nuanced family portrait and an account of the author's journey to Osnabrück in Germany, a city of her mother’s maternal family, the Jonases. Actually, it is much more: Going to Osnabrück is like going to Jerusalem, it’s finding and losing. It’s exhuming secrets, resuscitating the dead, letting the mute speak. And it’s losing the absolute freedom to be Jewish or not be Jewish at will, a freedom that I enjoy conditionally.
It is immediately perceptible that the author is a literary erudite. I enjoyed all the references, for example, Balzac, King Lear and Odyssey. Hélène Cixous’s writing style is quite unusual. I was fascinated by her linguistic experiments. Besides, I was impressed by her remarks on the German language and the way the Nazis influenced our perception of it: O sweet German language, supple friend of the poets, you were treated like a concentration camp judeoguineapig, on your tender cat’s body were grafted crocodile fragments, fangs were implanted in your words.
The linguistic innovativeness of Osnabrück Station to Jerusalem resonated with me the most. I am in awe of Hélène Cixous’s attempts to invent a new language to talk about loss.
Family Love, Vassiliou.
Hélène Cixous is known for her experimental writing and Osnabrück Station to Jerusalem (1999) is no exception. It is an artistically bold and innovative take on the theme of the Holocaust and inherited trauma. It is also a smooth blend of historical reportage, a family chronicle, a novel, an essay and a poem.
I liked the structure of Hélène Cixous’s book, especially the creative way she is reconnecting with her family's past. At first sight, it is a nuanced family portrait and an account of the author's journey to Osnabrück in Germany, a city of her mother’s maternal family, the Jonases. Actually, it is much more: Going to Osnabrück is like going to Jerusalem, it’s finding and losing. It’s exhuming secrets, resuscitating the dead, letting the mute speak. And it’s losing the absolute freedom to be Jewish or not be Jewish at will, a freedom that I enjoy conditionally.
It is immediately perceptible that the author is a literary erudite. I enjoyed all the references, for example, Balzac, King Lear and Odyssey. Hélène Cixous’s writing style is quite unusual. I was fascinated by her linguistic experiments. Besides, I was impressed by her remarks on the German language and the way the Nazis influenced our perception of it: O sweet German language, supple friend of the poets, you were treated like a concentration camp judeoguineapig, on your tender cat’s body were grafted crocodile fragments, fangs were implanted in your words.
The linguistic innovativeness of Osnabrück Station to Jerusalem resonated with me the most. I am in awe of Hélène Cixous’s attempts to invent a new language to talk about loss.
Family Love, Vassiliou.
December 27, 2022
Onnavolgbaar en vaak onbegrijpelijk, maar toch aangrijpend. Je zou het in het originele Frans moeten lezen om alle subtiele woordspelingen te kunnen volgen. De tragedie van de shoah blijft een onuitputtelijke bron van geheugenkunst.
Volgens Cixous is dit boek geen fictieve roman, maar "een bloeduitstorting veroorzaakt door de schok die zich heeft voorgedaan tussen de Stad en het onbepaalde zelf met al mijn boeken aan zijn zijde en zeventig jaar aan homerische verhalen van mijn moeder en incidenteel van mijn tante en mijn grootmoeder, zodat ik in hun voetsporen honderd jaar met reuzen door alle mogelijke landen heb rondgezworven." (pp. 136-137)
Volgens Cixous is dit boek geen fictieve roman, maar "een bloeduitstorting veroorzaakt door de schok die zich heeft voorgedaan tussen de Stad en het onbepaalde zelf met al mijn boeken aan zijn zijde en zeventig jaar aan homerische verhalen van mijn moeder en incidenteel van mijn tante en mijn grootmoeder, zodat ik in hun voetsporen honderd jaar met reuzen door alle mogelijke landen heb rondgezworven." (pp. 136-137)
May 12, 2022
Sterk, bevreemdend en ontroerend.
September 18, 2021
‘’Jag blir aldrig frisk, tänkte jag, jag är sjuk av mammas död, jag är död, jag kommer att dö av den, kärleken har övergivit mig och magin har beslagtagit mig. Jag är Job och all tid som återstår mig att kräla omkring här kommer bara att vara en oavbruten klagan. Tänkte jag. Jag drunknade. Jag kom upp igen. Jag sa: Mam-Ma med hög röst. Och vände mig om och drunknade.’’
Cixous suddar ut gränsen mellan fiktion och verklighet i sin bok, och hon gör det på ett otroligt skickligt vis. Hon ger liv till de berättelser som hennes mamma och mormor berättade under hennes uppväxt. Det är berättelser om tiden innan Hitler, men det är också berättelser som utspelar sig under de mörka 30- och 40-talen. Hon rekonstruerar det förflutna och ‘reser’ tillbaka till Osnabrück för att komma närmre sin historia. För på avstånd går det inte att förstå. Hon lyfter fram de människor som gått ur tiden, och hon ger dem röst igen. Boken blir en blandning mellan nu och då, men likväl det som komma skall. Hon tänjer på alla gränser, och undersöker det förflutna både ur ett känslomässigt perspektiv men även rent historiskt och filosofiskt utredande. Hon vill komma närmre det, och dem, som kom före henne; det som är så tätt knutet till hennes egen historia. Sökandet leder ofta till spöken och skuggor som bara svagt kan vittna om den tid som flytt. Men resan är ändå viktig, för att kunna förstå. Mmm, Cixous är så otroligt skicklig. Älskar hur hon skriver och sättet hon väljer att lyfta fram ting på. Ofta finner man små citat lite här och var som mitt i allt stannar kvar lite extra hos en: ‘’Vi föder tankar med sorg eller grämelse tills de blir till små tragedier.’’. Älskar, älskar, älskar Cixous och uppskattar det hon delar med sig av. (kopierat från min bokinsta @litteraturvetare) 🤍💕
Cixous suddar ut gränsen mellan fiktion och verklighet i sin bok, och hon gör det på ett otroligt skickligt vis. Hon ger liv till de berättelser som hennes mamma och mormor berättade under hennes uppväxt. Det är berättelser om tiden innan Hitler, men det är också berättelser som utspelar sig under de mörka 30- och 40-talen. Hon rekonstruerar det förflutna och ‘reser’ tillbaka till Osnabrück för att komma närmre sin historia. För på avstånd går det inte att förstå. Hon lyfter fram de människor som gått ur tiden, och hon ger dem röst igen. Boken blir en blandning mellan nu och då, men likväl det som komma skall. Hon tänjer på alla gränser, och undersöker det förflutna både ur ett känslomässigt perspektiv men även rent historiskt och filosofiskt utredande. Hon vill komma närmre det, och dem, som kom före henne; det som är så tätt knutet till hennes egen historia. Sökandet leder ofta till spöken och skuggor som bara svagt kan vittna om den tid som flytt. Men resan är ändå viktig, för att kunna förstå. Mmm, Cixous är så otroligt skicklig. Älskar hur hon skriver och sättet hon väljer att lyfta fram ting på. Ofta finner man små citat lite här och var som mitt i allt stannar kvar lite extra hos en: ‘’Vi föder tankar med sorg eller grämelse tills de blir till små tragedier.’’. Älskar, älskar, älskar Cixous och uppskattar det hon delar med sig av. (kopierat från min bokinsta @litteraturvetare) 🤍💕
July 22, 2025
Woorden stellen tegenover de onvermijdelijke realiteit is inzien dat elke steen het uitschreeuwt. 'Hoor toch hoe het bloed van je broer uit de aarde naar mij schreeuwt.' De oude Grieken hadden de term miasma, voor de odieuze energie die een stad of mens aankleefde na bijzondere ongerechtigheid. Voor bloedwraak bestonden bijzondere regels, maar de furiën waren ongenadig in het achtervolgen van de dader. Vandaar het Kainsteken, een oog voor een oog en een tand voor een tand.
July 15, 2024
Fortsetzung meines Cixou Leseabenteuers. Wieder geht es um die Mutter, diesmal um die Familiengeschichte, die Mutter stammt aus Osnabrück. Jüdisches Leben spielt rein - da natürlich dann auch der Holocaust. Und sehr viel Mutter-Tochter-Sachen, auch der früh verstorbene Vater wirkt fort. Leider fehlt hier ein ausführlicher Anhang mit Beschreibung der französischen Wortspielereien, da sind eindeutig viele verborgen. Trotzdem wieder ein tolles Leseabenteuer.
March 24, 2023
Moeilijk en indrukwekkend.
May 12, 2020
Here's my review in The Woven Tale Press for Jewish Heritage Month:
https://www.thewoventalepress.net/202...
https://www.thewoventalepress.net/202...
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews