Revived Writers
Fairly often a well-deserving writer is rediscovered by readers, publishers, or reviewers/critics. The neglected books are brought back into print, retrospective appreciations are written (Dawn Powell) or a sudden rush of affection overwhelms the writer late in life (Barbara Pym). Sometimes the writer’s works are whacked with the magic wand of Hollywood, and the writer becomes much more famous and widely read than in his or her mortality (Philip K. Dick).
Recently I was struck by the handsome editions that a British publisher, Hodder Books, brought out for Pamela Hansford Johnson’s novels. Johnson (1912-1981, CBE, FRSL) was a prolific and multi-talented writer who was the guest of many universities in the US and celebrated in her day. Her second husband, C.P. Snow, had an even higher profile as a writer bridging the sciences and the humanities and wrote successfully and abundantly, including an epic 11-volume series, Strangers and Brothers. Johnson is now back in print. Snow is out of print entirely in the US. Publishers — and booksellers — are mysterious in their giving and taking away. It pays to stay alert to what is revived.
On this page, beginning in the pandemic days of Spring 2020, we will hunt around for revived fiction and its writers. We begin with Johnson. I look forward to listing other authors I carry: Nancy Mitford, Georgette Heyer, Eugenia Price, Sylvia Townsend Warner, and others. (Why are all the names I am thinking of women writers? No idea.)
Enjoy! Experiment! And come back to check on new listings.
Rabbi Yitzhak Isaac Halevi Herzog 2 volume boxed set
Rabbi Yitzhak Isaac Halevi Herzog 2 volume boxed set
The extent of Rabbi Dr. Isaac Herzog’s writings is a testament to his erudition, his intellectual prowess, and his expertise. Rabbi Herzog wrote for a variety of audiences, including experts in rabbinical law, scholars of history,
philology, science, and jurisprudence, as well as the general public. These
volumes bring together a huge selection of his works, many of which have
never before been translated into English.
Volume I comprises three major sections: Hebrew Porphyrology, Rabbi Herzog’s doctoral dissertation on the subject of tekhelet; Judaism: Law & Ethics, contains a book of essays on subjects ranging from Jewish holidays
to the relationship between Judaism and Hellenistic culture; and The Main Institutions of Jewish Law, Rabbi Herzog’s magnum opus, is an account of rabbinical law in terms of modern jurisprudence.
Volume II comprises a first-time English translation of the three-volume Constitution and Law in a Jewish State According to the Halakha, a Hebrew collection of writings on questions of religion, democracy, and Jewish law
in the State of Israel.