Rodger Kamenetz, Burnt Books December 14, 2010

Rodger Kamenetz, National Jewish Book Award winner and acclaimed author of The Jew in the Lotus, has long been fascinated by the mystical tales of the Hasidic master Rabbi Nachman of Bratzlav, and for many years he has taught a course in Prague on Franz Kafka.

The more he thought about their lives and writings, the more aware he became of unexpected connections between them. Both invented new forms of storytelling that explore the search for meaning in an illogical, unjust world. And both left strict instructions at the end of their lives that their unpublished books be burnt.

Kamenetz travels to Kafka’s birthplace in Prague and participates in the pilgrimage to the burial site of Rabbi Nachman. He discusses the hallucinatory intensity of their visions and offers analysis of Nachman’s and Kafka’s major works, revealing uncanny similarities in the inner lives of these two troubled and beloved figures, whose creative and religious struggles have much to teach us about the significant role imagination plays in the Jewish spiritual experience.

“Here is a whole new slant on Kafka, a unique and affecting portrait of a creative holy man, and a radiant inquiry in celebration of how both sacred texts and great literature are open to ‘infinite interpretation’.” —Booklist

Official Website: http://thejdc.convio.net/site/Calendar?id=125467&view=Detail