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Focus
Written in 1945, Focus was Arthur Miller's first novel and one of the first books to directly confront American anti-Semitism. It remains as chilling and incisive today as it was at the time of its controversial debut. As World War II draws to a close, anti-Semitism is alive and well in Brooklyn, New York. Here, Newman, an American of English descent, floats through a world of multiethnic neighborhoods indifferent to the racism around him. That is, until he begins wearing glasses that render him "Jewish" in the eyes of others, making him the target of anti-Semitic persecution. As he and his wife find friendship and support from a Jewish immigrant, Newman slowly begins to understand the racial hatreds that surround him."A strong, sincere book bursting with indignation." ( The New York Times Book Review )
288 pages, Paperback
First published November 10, 1945
40 people are currently reading
1929 people want to read
About the author
Arthur Miller
536 books3,176 followersWorks of American playwright Arthur Asher Miller include
Death of a Salesman
(1949), for which he won a Pulitzer Prize, and
The Crucible
(1953).
This essayist, a prominent figure in literature and cinema for over 61 years, composed a wide variety, such as celebrated A View from the Bridge and All My Sons , still studied and performed worldwide. Miller often in the public eye most famously refused to give evidence to the un-American activities committee of the House of Representatives, received award for drama, and married Marilyn Monroe. People at the time considered the greatest Miller.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_...
This essayist, a prominent figure in literature and cinema for over 61 years, composed a wide variety, such as celebrated A View from the Bridge and All My Sons , still studied and performed worldwide. Miller often in the public eye most famously refused to give evidence to the un-American activities committee of the House of Representatives, received award for drama, and married Marilyn Monroe. People at the time considered the greatest Miller.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 131 reviews
June 3, 2016
A chilling study into the rise of anti-Semitism during the closing stages of the second world war that centres on Mr Newman a personnel manager living with his mother who on a regular basis witnesses the abuse of his neighbours and locals who are of different race and culture but chooses to turn a blind eye and just get on with his life. But after he starts wearing glasses he is mistaken for a Jew and persecuted, so begins internally to question what drives ordinary people to act this way and how can the problem be overcome.
Miller is such a better Playwright than a novelist and in generally it shows, dealing with a difficult subject matter he handles well but there are so many other pieces of literature out there that do a better job regarding the pre and post war struggles. Challenging and truthful but ultimately doesn't really hit you so much on an emotional level.
Miller is such a better Playwright than a novelist and in generally it shows, dealing with a difficult subject matter he handles well but there are so many other pieces of literature out there that do a better job regarding the pre and post war struggles. Challenging and truthful but ultimately doesn't really hit you so much on an emotional level.
November 11, 2022
Newman ist Rassist und Antisemit. Er wagt seine Gedanken aber im Gegensatz zu Fred nicht auszusprechen. Fred ist sein Nachbar. Beide arbeiten zu Beginn der Geschichte in derselben Firma in Manhattan. Newman ist dort ein kleiner Angestellter, der die 70 Frauen, die an Schreibpulten im 16. Stockwerk arbeiten, durch ein Glasbüro überwacht. Er bekommt eine Sehschwäche und muss sich auf Anweisung seines Chefs eine Brille zulegen, um seine Arbeit weiterhin auszuführen.
Mit der Brille sieht Newman für seine Umgebung, seine Mutter und für sich selbst "wie ein Jude" aus. Der Antisemit wird nun selbst zum Opfer von Antisemitismus.
Das Buch ist 1945 zum ersten Mal erschienen. Der Krieg ist in den Zeitungsartikeln, die die Romanfiguren lesen, präsent. Neben direkten Antisemitismus-Erfahrungen war es auch die zunächst kalte Reaktion der Amerikaner auf die Gewalt Hitlers gegen Juden, die Arthur Miller zu seinem einzigen Roman motiviert hat.
Eine Geschichte wie diese würde heute vermutlich nur noch ein Houllebeq schreiben. Insofern handelt es sich um einen modernen Roman mit dem Gespür für ein dringliches Thema.
Die Umsetzung erfolgt in einer Sprache, die sachlich ist und gleichzeitig Zwischentöne zulässt. Es entsteht aufgrund der Entwicklung der Hauptfigur eine eigentümliche, bedrückende Spannung beim Lesen. Man muss einfach wissen, wie sich diese absurde Sache weiter entwickelt, auch wenn es mitunter physische Schmerzen verursacht.
Ein spannendes Stück Weltliteratur, dem auch heute noch viele Leserinnen und Leser zu wünschen ist.
Ich werde in Kürze eine Adaption des Romans für das Theater zu sehen bekommen. Der Roman hat die Vorfreude darauf noch um einiges gesteigert.
Mit der Brille sieht Newman für seine Umgebung, seine Mutter und für sich selbst "wie ein Jude" aus. Der Antisemit wird nun selbst zum Opfer von Antisemitismus.
Das Buch ist 1945 zum ersten Mal erschienen. Der Krieg ist in den Zeitungsartikeln, die die Romanfiguren lesen, präsent. Neben direkten Antisemitismus-Erfahrungen war es auch die zunächst kalte Reaktion der Amerikaner auf die Gewalt Hitlers gegen Juden, die Arthur Miller zu seinem einzigen Roman motiviert hat.
Eine Geschichte wie diese würde heute vermutlich nur noch ein Houllebeq schreiben. Insofern handelt es sich um einen modernen Roman mit dem Gespür für ein dringliches Thema.
Die Umsetzung erfolgt in einer Sprache, die sachlich ist und gleichzeitig Zwischentöne zulässt. Es entsteht aufgrund der Entwicklung der Hauptfigur eine eigentümliche, bedrückende Spannung beim Lesen. Man muss einfach wissen, wie sich diese absurde Sache weiter entwickelt, auch wenn es mitunter physische Schmerzen verursacht.
Ein spannendes Stück Weltliteratur, dem auch heute noch viele Leserinnen und Leser zu wünschen ist.
Ich werde in Kürze eine Adaption des Romans für das Theater zu sehen bekommen. Der Roman hat die Vorfreude darauf noch um einiges gesteigert.
May 31, 2012
I had already seen and enjoyed a number of plays written by Arthur Miller when I came across a copy of “Focus”. I opened it thinking that it would be another of his plays, but was surprised to find that it is a full-length novel. It was first published during the Second World War in 1945. My copy (Penguin Modern Classics edition, 1986) contained an interesting introduction that Miller wrote over 40 years later, containing his explanation of Anti-Semitism.
The hero, Lawrence Newman, lives in a row of houses in the Borough of Queens in New York State. Every working day, he takes the subway into Manhattan, where he works in a large company, supervising a typing pool. One evening, he enters the subway carriage as usual and spots a man, whose appearance convinces him that he is looking at a Jew. At that moment, his neighbour, Fred, spots him and taps him on the shoulder. Very soon, Fred begins telling Newman, within earshot of the passenger who Newman suspects is a Jew, how it was time to ‘clean up’ the neighbourhood in which they lived. Newman is puzzled, but Fred quickly explains that he means that the Jews should be scared off, beginning with Mr Finkelstein who runs a newsagent shop at the corner of their street. Lawrence learns that this can be achieved with the help of the ‘Christian Front’, an actual (not a fictional) anti-Semitic organisation, which flourished in the USA in the 1940s.
One evening, Newman picks up a new pair of spectacles from his optician, and takes them home. In the seclusion of his bathroom, he tries them on, begins to see things more clearly, and then notices his face. To his horror, he discovers that he now looks like a Jew. He sees his face, and thinks that it is his idea of a Jewish face. Even when his elderly mother first sees him in his glasses, she says, “Why, you look almost like a Jew.” This is only the beginning of his troubles, for everywhere he goes, he senses that people are guessing that he is a Jew, and then causing difficulties for him. The more he tries to dislike Jews, the more that people around him, including the Christian Front rowdies, consider him to be Jewish.
Is there really such thing as a Jewish appearance? Even a neo-Nazi website, Der Stuermer, is uncertain about this. It says: “White gentiles should hopefully be able to recognize Jewish people based upon their physical appearance, but granted, this is not always possible” (my underlining). I don’t think that there is a typical Jewish appearance. This only exists in the mind of anti-Semites. I would challenge anyone to accurately pick out the Jews from a group of Arabs and (Jewish) Israelis wearing Western clothing. However, Newman, who has anti-Semitic leanings and, as we learn, can produce his baptismal certificate, thinks that he looks like a Jew, as do his neighbours and work colleagues.
This feeling that he is unjustifiably regarded as a Jew poisons his enjoyment of life and almost wrecks his first serious love affair. Newman reminded me of Christmas, an important character in William Faulkner’s Light in August (published in 1931). Christmas, a young man who believes, as do all the other characters in the story, that he has some Negro ancestry, does not look like a Negro, but is treated as one with tragic consequences. Both Miller and Faulkner, in their novels, have successfully made use of this fear of feeling that you are, or might be, someone that you inwardly despise.
In summary, I heartily recommend Miller’s well-constructed novel. It is as gripping and dramatic as his (better known) plays, and you don’t need to sit in an uncomfortable theatre seat to enjoy it!
PS I am looking forward to comparing this book with "Gentleman's Agreement" by Laura Hobson.
The hero, Lawrence Newman, lives in a row of houses in the Borough of Queens in New York State. Every working day, he takes the subway into Manhattan, where he works in a large company, supervising a typing pool. One evening, he enters the subway carriage as usual and spots a man, whose appearance convinces him that he is looking at a Jew. At that moment, his neighbour, Fred, spots him and taps him on the shoulder. Very soon, Fred begins telling Newman, within earshot of the passenger who Newman suspects is a Jew, how it was time to ‘clean up’ the neighbourhood in which they lived. Newman is puzzled, but Fred quickly explains that he means that the Jews should be scared off, beginning with Mr Finkelstein who runs a newsagent shop at the corner of their street. Lawrence learns that this can be achieved with the help of the ‘Christian Front’, an actual (not a fictional) anti-Semitic organisation, which flourished in the USA in the 1940s.
One evening, Newman picks up a new pair of spectacles from his optician, and takes them home. In the seclusion of his bathroom, he tries them on, begins to see things more clearly, and then notices his face. To his horror, he discovers that he now looks like a Jew. He sees his face, and thinks that it is his idea of a Jewish face. Even when his elderly mother first sees him in his glasses, she says, “Why, you look almost like a Jew.” This is only the beginning of his troubles, for everywhere he goes, he senses that people are guessing that he is a Jew, and then causing difficulties for him. The more he tries to dislike Jews, the more that people around him, including the Christian Front rowdies, consider him to be Jewish.
Is there really such thing as a Jewish appearance? Even a neo-Nazi website, Der Stuermer, is uncertain about this. It says: “White gentiles should hopefully be able to recognize Jewish people based upon their physical appearance, but granted, this is not always possible” (my underlining). I don’t think that there is a typical Jewish appearance. This only exists in the mind of anti-Semites. I would challenge anyone to accurately pick out the Jews from a group of Arabs and (Jewish) Israelis wearing Western clothing. However, Newman, who has anti-Semitic leanings and, as we learn, can produce his baptismal certificate, thinks that he looks like a Jew, as do his neighbours and work colleagues.
This feeling that he is unjustifiably regarded as a Jew poisons his enjoyment of life and almost wrecks his first serious love affair. Newman reminded me of Christmas, an important character in William Faulkner’s Light in August (published in 1931). Christmas, a young man who believes, as do all the other characters in the story, that he has some Negro ancestry, does not look like a Negro, but is treated as one with tragic consequences. Both Miller and Faulkner, in their novels, have successfully made use of this fear of feeling that you are, or might be, someone that you inwardly despise.
In summary, I heartily recommend Miller’s well-constructed novel. It is as gripping and dramatic as his (better known) plays, and you don’t need to sit in an uncomfortable theatre seat to enjoy it!
PS I am looking forward to comparing this book with "Gentleman's Agreement" by Laura Hobson.
July 20, 2021
Nova Iorque, 1945. Lawrence Newman é um americano comum da classe média burguesa, que vive o seu dia a dia numa rotina bem estabelecida. Tudo na sua vida está organizado ao pormenor e vive, não diria feliz, mas satisfeito na sua zona de conforto, sem grandes ambições ou atribulações.
Chefe de pessoal numa empresa que não contrata judeus, Newman não questiona as directivas da empresa e partilha o sentimento anti-semita predominante na sociedade. Até que uma casualidade o leva a sentir na pele o que é ser discriminado e a sua vida sofre uma inesperada reviravolta...
Esta foi uma boa e sólida leitura sobre o tema do preconceito e do anti-semitismo norte americano do periodo da segunda guerra mundial, que apesar de fictício veio complementar algumas outras aprendizagens e reflexões que fiz sobre o tema aquando da leitura de Os Nus e os Mortos de Norman Mailer.
Uma estudo muito humano e válido sobre empatia e o "calçar os sapatos do outro", cujas reflexões são pertinentes e transversais a qualquer época, povo e forma de etnocentrismo ou xenofobia, e na minha opinião, cada vez mais essenciais e significativas nos dias que correm.
Gostei bastante e irei sem dúvida querer continuar a ler este autor. Tive a felicidade de "descobrir" que ganhou um pullitzer de teatro, género que muito me agrada, tendo ficado com muita vontade de ler a sua peça "Morte de Um Caixeiro Viajante". Uma curiosidade interessante foi também descobrir que este é o Arthur Miller que foi marido de Marilyn Monroe.
Chefe de pessoal numa empresa que não contrata judeus, Newman não questiona as directivas da empresa e partilha o sentimento anti-semita predominante na sociedade. Até que uma casualidade o leva a sentir na pele o que é ser discriminado e a sua vida sofre uma inesperada reviravolta...
Esta foi uma boa e sólida leitura sobre o tema do preconceito e do anti-semitismo norte americano do periodo da segunda guerra mundial, que apesar de fictício veio complementar algumas outras aprendizagens e reflexões que fiz sobre o tema aquando da leitura de Os Nus e os Mortos de Norman Mailer.
Uma estudo muito humano e válido sobre empatia e o "calçar os sapatos do outro", cujas reflexões são pertinentes e transversais a qualquer época, povo e forma de etnocentrismo ou xenofobia, e na minha opinião, cada vez mais essenciais e significativas nos dias que correm.
Gostei bastante e irei sem dúvida querer continuar a ler este autor. Tive a felicidade de "descobrir" que ganhou um pullitzer de teatro, género que muito me agrada, tendo ficado com muita vontade de ler a sua peça "Morte de Um Caixeiro Viajante". Uma curiosidade interessante foi também descobrir que este é o Arthur Miller que foi marido de Marilyn Monroe.
May 31, 2022
Fokus’un hikayesi nedir diye sorulsa anlatmaya yıllar önce Malina’da okuduğum; “Faşizm, atılan bombalarla başlamaz, her gazetede üzerine bir şeyler yazılacak terörle de başlamaz. Faşizm, insanlar arası ilişkilerde başlar, iki insan arasındaki ilişkide...” bu cümlelerle başlardım.
***
Hikaye 1940’larda New Yorkt’ta aslında Yahudi olmayan Laurence Newman’ın bir yanlış anlama sonucu etrafınca Yahudi zannedilmesiyle başlıyor. Değişen insan davranışlarını şaşkınlıkla okurken sıradan diyebiliceğimiz insanları manipülasyona, daha fazlası faşizme iten nedenleri düşünmeden edemiyorsunuz. Konuyla alakalı farklı birçok kitap okumuş olsanız da her seferinde kafa patlatıyorsunuz bu içler acısı duruma. Sonra bir grup insanın bu durumu görmezden gelebilmesine, bunun altında yatan motivasyona kafa patlatıyorsunuz.
Tarihsel bir belge niteliği taşıdığından okuduğunuz kitap da bir roman olmaktan öteye geçiyor. Bugün bile Abd’nin ırkçı tavrına şahit olup kitabın güncelliğini koruduğunu görüyoruz.
Özetle Fokus, temposu yavaş bir hikayede sayfaları hızla akan, hikaye aktarımı anlamlı, anti-semitizmi işleyişi acıklı, sonuyla da insanın canını yakan bir Arthur Miller kitabı.
***
“ gerçeğin ya da güzel olmayan dünyanın aynasında insanın dönüp kendine bakması hiç rahatlatıcı değildir ve çok güçlü bir karakter gerektirir.”
Syf.10
***
“Bir şimşeğin düşüp insanlar arasındaki tüm ayrımları yakarak kül etmesini ve artık kimin hangi ırktan geldiğinin bir öneminin kalmayacağı şekilde insanları değiştirmesini diledi.”
Syf.254
***
Hikaye 1940’larda New Yorkt’ta aslında Yahudi olmayan Laurence Newman’ın bir yanlış anlama sonucu etrafınca Yahudi zannedilmesiyle başlıyor. Değişen insan davranışlarını şaşkınlıkla okurken sıradan diyebiliceğimiz insanları manipülasyona, daha fazlası faşizme iten nedenleri düşünmeden edemiyorsunuz. Konuyla alakalı farklı birçok kitap okumuş olsanız da her seferinde kafa patlatıyorsunuz bu içler acısı duruma. Sonra bir grup insanın bu durumu görmezden gelebilmesine, bunun altında yatan motivasyona kafa patlatıyorsunuz.
Tarihsel bir belge niteliği taşıdığından okuduğunuz kitap da bir roman olmaktan öteye geçiyor. Bugün bile Abd’nin ırkçı tavrına şahit olup kitabın güncelliğini koruduğunu görüyoruz.
Özetle Fokus, temposu yavaş bir hikayede sayfaları hızla akan, hikaye aktarımı anlamlı, anti-semitizmi işleyişi acıklı, sonuyla da insanın canını yakan bir Arthur Miller kitabı.
***
“ gerçeğin ya da güzel olmayan dünyanın aynasında insanın dönüp kendine bakması hiç rahatlatıcı değildir ve çok güçlü bir karakter gerektirir.”
Syf.10
***
“Bir şimşeğin düşüp insanlar arasındaki tüm ayrımları yakarak kül etmesini ve artık kimin hangi ırktan geldiğinin bir öneminin kalmayacağı şekilde insanları değiştirmesini diledi.”
Syf.254
June 16, 2021
Die Handlung spielt im New York des letzten Kriegsjahres 1945. Lawrence Newman ist ein leitender Angestellter, der sehr gehorsam und pedantisch seine Pflichten erfüllt. Er lebt mit seiner Mutter in einem ruhigen, gepflegten Wohnviertel, in dem es für ihn tagtäglich gleichartig und geordnet zugeht.
Und doch ändert sich urplötzlich sein Leben von Grund auf, als sein Arzt ihm eines Tages wegen seiner zunehmenden Sehschwäche eine Brille verordnet. Denn sein Umfeld findet, dass er plötzlich "jüdisch" aussieht und die damit einhergehenden Vorurteile und Anfeindungen gegen ihn nehmen ihren Lauf.
Gleichzeitig nimmt der Antisemitismus in der ganzen Stadt spürbar immer weiter zu. Es organisiert sich eine Gruppe, die "Christliche Front", mit dem Ziel "Säuberungsaktionen" durchzuführen, um "es denen [den Juden] ungemütlich zu machen", die "Nachbarschaft reinzuhalten" und "von diesen Elementen wegzukommen".
Durch Andeutungen wie hingekritzelte Drohungen auf den Säulen der U-Bahnstation und vage Vorahnungen Newmans wie "Etwas bereitete sich in dieser Stadt vor ..." befindet man sich beim Lesen permanent in Spannung. Neben den wichtigen, leider immerzu aktuellen Themen wie Intoleranz, Diskriminierung, Antisemitismus und Hass, die Miller durch seinen Roman ankreidet, hat mir sehr gut gefallen, wie Miller Newmans Entwicklung von einem stark auf Konformismus fixierten zu einem ausgegrenzten Menschen aufzeigt und was dieses Am-eigenen-Leib-spüren bei ihm, der antisemitischen Diffamierungen bisher recht gefühllos gegenüberstand, ja sogar selbst die gängigen Vorurteile mit einer Selbstverständlichkeit nachplapperte, bei ihm bewirkt. Langsam kommen Newman erste Zweifel...
Sehr passend und voll bitterer Ironie ist dafür das von Miller gewählte Bild der Brille, die Newman, nachdem er früher sozusagen selbst blind für diese Ressentiments war bzw. aus Bequemlichkeit und Gleichgültigkeit die Augen verschlossen hatte, letztendlich die Augen öffnet.
Als LeserIn leidet man mit ihm mit, nicht weil er ein Sympathieträger ist (das ist er ganz gewiss nicht), sondern wegen der Ungeheuerlichkeit der Dinge, die ihm und seinen jüdischen Mitmenschen widerfahren.
Wie schnell aus leichtfertigen Vorurteilen bitterer Ernst werden kann und sich in der gesellschaftlichen Masse Dinge verselbstständigen und zu einer Katastrophe führen können, ist einfach erschreckend.
Der Roman endet mit keinem typischen Happy End (was ich hier auch als sehr unpassend empfunden hätte), jedoch mit einem guten, weiteren Raum lassenden Schluss.
Arthur Miller ist für seine sozialkritischen Dramen bekannt, insbesondere für "Tod eines Handlungsreisenden", für das er 1949 den Pulitzer-Preis gewann. Btw: Er war 5 Jahre lang mit Marilyn Monroe verheiratet.
"Fokus" (auch als "Brennpunkt" bekannt) ist Millers einziger Roman, erschienen 1945.
Die Ausgabe der Büchergilde (selbst gekauft) enthält wunderschöne Holzschnitte von Franziska Neubert.
Und doch ändert sich urplötzlich sein Leben von Grund auf, als sein Arzt ihm eines Tages wegen seiner zunehmenden Sehschwäche eine Brille verordnet. Denn sein Umfeld findet, dass er plötzlich "jüdisch" aussieht und die damit einhergehenden Vorurteile und Anfeindungen gegen ihn nehmen ihren Lauf.
Gleichzeitig nimmt der Antisemitismus in der ganzen Stadt spürbar immer weiter zu. Es organisiert sich eine Gruppe, die "Christliche Front", mit dem Ziel "Säuberungsaktionen" durchzuführen, um "es denen [den Juden] ungemütlich zu machen", die "Nachbarschaft reinzuhalten" und "von diesen Elementen wegzukommen".
Durch Andeutungen wie hingekritzelte Drohungen auf den Säulen der U-Bahnstation und vage Vorahnungen Newmans wie "Etwas bereitete sich in dieser Stadt vor ..." befindet man sich beim Lesen permanent in Spannung. Neben den wichtigen, leider immerzu aktuellen Themen wie Intoleranz, Diskriminierung, Antisemitismus und Hass, die Miller durch seinen Roman ankreidet, hat mir sehr gut gefallen, wie Miller Newmans Entwicklung von einem stark auf Konformismus fixierten zu einem ausgegrenzten Menschen aufzeigt und was dieses Am-eigenen-Leib-spüren bei ihm, der antisemitischen Diffamierungen bisher recht gefühllos gegenüberstand, ja sogar selbst die gängigen Vorurteile mit einer Selbstverständlichkeit nachplapperte, bei ihm bewirkt. Langsam kommen Newman erste Zweifel...
Sehr passend und voll bitterer Ironie ist dafür das von Miller gewählte Bild der Brille, die Newman, nachdem er früher sozusagen selbst blind für diese Ressentiments war bzw. aus Bequemlichkeit und Gleichgültigkeit die Augen verschlossen hatte, letztendlich die Augen öffnet.
Als LeserIn leidet man mit ihm mit, nicht weil er ein Sympathieträger ist (das ist er ganz gewiss nicht), sondern wegen der Ungeheuerlichkeit der Dinge, die ihm und seinen jüdischen Mitmenschen widerfahren.
Wie schnell aus leichtfertigen Vorurteilen bitterer Ernst werden kann und sich in der gesellschaftlichen Masse Dinge verselbstständigen und zu einer Katastrophe führen können, ist einfach erschreckend.
Der Roman endet mit keinem typischen Happy End (was ich hier auch als sehr unpassend empfunden hätte), jedoch mit einem guten, weiteren Raum lassenden Schluss.
Arthur Miller ist für seine sozialkritischen Dramen bekannt, insbesondere für "Tod eines Handlungsreisenden", für das er 1949 den Pulitzer-Preis gewann. Btw: Er war 5 Jahre lang mit Marilyn Monroe verheiratet.
"Fokus" (auch als "Brennpunkt" bekannt) ist Millers einziger Roman, erschienen 1945.
Die Ausgabe der Büchergilde (selbst gekauft) enthält wunderschöne Holzschnitte von Franziska Neubert.
January 10, 2019
Geçen yıllar boyunca hem yoğun bir korku hem de umutla metro sütunlarını araştırıp durmuştu. Zira bela çıkarsa hangi rolde içinin rahat edeceğinden hiçbir zaman emin olamamıştı. Ama şimdi belayla sokakta, herkesin önünde karşılaşmıştı ama işin sonu kötü bitmemişti. Aksine komşularıyla arasında daha önce hiç hissetmediği bir yoldaşlık bağı kurulmuştu. Trende koltuğunda otururken kendin güçlü hissetti. Hatta sert. Sf:75
Hikayeden çıkarılacak ders, tramvayla eve doğru yol alan Bay Finkelstein'a hiç olmadığı kadar net görünüyordu. Tamamen masumum, dedi kendi kendine. Ne gizleyecek ne de utanacak bir şeyim var. Utanması, gizlemesi gereken bir şeyi olanlar varsa bırak gizlensinler, bırak ne olacaksa olsun, kendilerine biçilen rolü oynasınlar, haksız olduklarını içten içe bilmenin verdiği suçluluk duygusuyla yaşasınlar. Utanacak hiçbir şeyim yok ve bir şey çalıp evimde gizlemiş gibi sinmeyeceğim. Bu ülkenin bir vatandaşıyım. Tramvaydan inerken, ben dürüst bir insanım, diye düşündü ve onu eve götürecek metroya doğru yürüdü. Ben İtzik değilim, dedi turnikenin kolunu iterken. Cehenneme kadar yolları var. Beni İtzik'in durumuna düşüremeyecekler. Sf:181
Hikayeden çıkarılacak ders, tramvayla eve doğru yol alan Bay Finkelstein'a hiç olmadığı kadar net görünüyordu. Tamamen masumum, dedi kendi kendine. Ne gizleyecek ne de utanacak bir şeyim var. Utanması, gizlemesi gereken bir şeyi olanlar varsa bırak gizlensinler, bırak ne olacaksa olsun, kendilerine biçilen rolü oynasınlar, haksız olduklarını içten içe bilmenin verdiği suçluluk duygusuyla yaşasınlar. Utanacak hiçbir şeyim yok ve bir şey çalıp evimde gizlemiş gibi sinmeyeceğim. Bu ülkenin bir vatandaşıyım. Tramvaydan inerken, ben dürüst bir insanım, diye düşündü ve onu eve götürecek metroya doğru yürüdü. Ben İtzik değilim, dedi turnikenin kolunu iterken. Cehenneme kadar yolları var. Beni İtzik'in durumuna düşüremeyecekler. Sf:181
October 3, 2017
This was a very powerful novel. Despite its short length, Miller here has written a very thought-provoking and enlightening story, that of a man in 1940s New York, swept up in the dark and increasing undercurrent of anti-semitism which was at that time growing like a cancer among some people. Despite the book being written more than seventy years ago, it still seems very relevant and important in the face of current anti-Islamic rhetoric and the struggles of other minorities to gain civil rights in the many years since the book’s publication.
On top of this, you have some beautifully powerful characterisation in the establishment and description of the central protagonist, quirky and witty as it is. My only gripe was that the book did tiptoe towards the boundary of heavy-handedness at times, almost as if there was a level of contrivedness in how things panned out. I couldn’t escape the feeling of studying ‘important’ books like this at school, had I been able to ignore these and just read the book as a novel, I may have rated it higher.
On top of this, you have some beautifully powerful characterisation in the establishment and description of the central protagonist, quirky and witty as it is. My only gripe was that the book did tiptoe towards the boundary of heavy-handedness at times, almost as if there was a level of contrivedness in how things panned out. I couldn’t escape the feeling of studying ‘important’ books like this at school, had I been able to ignore these and just read the book as a novel, I may have rated it higher.
November 26, 2025
Arthur Miller was vooral bekend als toneelschrijver en kreeg voor zijn stuk “Death of a Salesman” in 1949 de Pulitzer Prize. Hij schreef slechts één roman: “Focus”. Miller was ook enkele woelige jaren gehuwd met Marilyn Monroe, en zij vond “Focus” zijn beste werk. Redenen genoeg om eens verder te bekijken dus.
Hoofdpersonage Newman is een doodgewone, saaie, burgerlijke Amerikaan. We bevinden ons tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog in Amerika, die stilaan zijn einde nadert. Vele mannen zijn nog aan het front, en in de rest van het land heerst er crisis. Newman prijst zich gelukkig met zijn huis, zijn job, zijn ras. Hij voelt en merkt steeds meer tekenen van antisemitisme in zijn omgeving, maar kan zich daar wel in vinden. Tot hij op een dag een bril dient te dragen, en hij daardoor zelf een “Joods” uiterlijk krijgt.
In deze roman zien we eens een andere zijde van de oorlog: namelijk die in het land van de grote redder Amerika. Hoe was het leven daar, welke gevolgen waren er? We zien ook een zeer mooie innerlijke evolutie van het hoofdpersoon, en wat racisme met iemand doet.
Na al die jaren nog steeds actueel en de moeite van het lezen zeker waard.
Hoofdpersonage Newman is een doodgewone, saaie, burgerlijke Amerikaan. We bevinden ons tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog in Amerika, die stilaan zijn einde nadert. Vele mannen zijn nog aan het front, en in de rest van het land heerst er crisis. Newman prijst zich gelukkig met zijn huis, zijn job, zijn ras. Hij voelt en merkt steeds meer tekenen van antisemitisme in zijn omgeving, maar kan zich daar wel in vinden. Tot hij op een dag een bril dient te dragen, en hij daardoor zelf een “Joods” uiterlijk krijgt.
In deze roman zien we eens een andere zijde van de oorlog: namelijk die in het land van de grote redder Amerika. Hoe was het leven daar, welke gevolgen waren er? We zien ook een zeer mooie innerlijke evolutie van het hoofdpersoon, en wat racisme met iemand doet.
Na al die jaren nog steeds actueel en de moeite van het lezen zeker waard.
March 10, 2023
Г-н Нюман,чиновникът, чийто живот се преобръща генерално заради чифт очила, е на фокус в единствения роман на известния драматург, написан с цел да разкрие мащабите на антисемитизма в Америка в края на ВСВ.
Толкова дълго отлагах прочитането на тази книга, че не помня нито кога, нито кой ми я препоръча, но съм безкрайно благодарна, че се срещнахме.
Не знаех почти нищо за тези срамни обществени настроения през 40-те толкова далеч зад Океана и останах изненадана.
Историята звучи дяволски актуално на фона на крайно десните настроения, които и днес надигат глава в демократичния свят.
Много силна, искрена и вълнуваща проза, динамично повествование, естествени диалози, пълнокръвни герои, удоволствие за читателя.
Толкова дълго отлагах прочитането на тази книга, че не помня нито кога, нито кой ми я препоръча, но съм безкрайно благодарна, че се срещнахме.
Не знаех почти нищо за тези срамни обществени настроения през 40-те толкова далеч зад Океана и останах изненадана.
Историята звучи дяволски актуално на фона на крайно десните настроения, които и днес надигат глава в демократичния свят.
Много силна, искрена и вълнуваща проза, динамично повествование, естествени диалози, пълнокръвни герои, удоволствие за читателя.
September 16, 2017
Arthur batte Ferdinand 10 a 0
Potrei lisciare il pelo ai miei quattro lettori su raccomandazione ( in realtà lo sto facendo) raccontando di averlo scovato intonso tra i libri trasportati in campagna alla rinfusa: intonso e con un anobino vivo e vegeto che vi passeggiava sopra.
N. 52 della primavera del 1966. Sicuramente comprato sull’onda emotiva del film di Visconti di qualche anno prima trasmesso in tv; messo da parte per impegni scolastici ( esami di V ginnasio) prima e per pregiudizi mutuati dai maîtres à penser sessantottini poi ( non tutti ci arrivammo a quegli anni con Proust, Joyce ,Kerouac o Balestrini).
Chi pensa che il caso non abbia le sue leggi si sbaglia.
M’ero portata in campagna una manciatina di libri tra cui Bagatelle. Che c’era di meglio per uscire dal disgusto che mi aveva lasciato il troppo lodato Ferdinand che aggrapparsi a un vecchio Oscar degli anni miei quando … Ogni diletto e gioco Indugi(avo) in altro tempo?
Giuro, dell’autore ricordavo solo il nome di quei due drammi celebri e gli “Spostati” e logicamente il suo matrimonio con Marylin, oltre la smorfia di disprezzo al solo pronunciare il suo nome.
Quando ho cominciato a leggerlo ho capito che Arthur non aveva fatto che mettere in scena i Ferdinand americani con tutto il loro bagaglio di antisemitismo e le loro vittime.
Singer il minore aveva accennato al disagio di sentirsi ebrei nella democraticcissima America e anche Roth ne ha fatto un suo argomento privilegiato: ma li avevo letti come fatti privati in quel mondo libero in quei tempi bui del vecchio continente: un disagio di chi non accetta di essere come tutti. Di essere affetti da quella che la psicologia ha definito con un acronimo SCARED (il gruppo delle reazioni che il diverso subisce nella società): osservazione insistente, curiosità, disgusto, ripulsa, imbarazzo e terrore.
Ma questo non è che il primo passo che il non ebreo, antisemita moderato, Lawrence Newman dalle fattezze semitiche ( ma che cazzo sono queste stigmate?) deve subire: sul lavoro, nel suo quartiere, nei bar, nei posti di vacanza.
Quando sposa una bella donna,antisemita spinta ma disgraziatamente anche lei con tratti ebraici, le cose precipitano: viene aggredito, malmenato e tradito dalla stessa sposina. Ma il suo riscatto morale è dietro l’angolo dove il vero ebreo pasticciere del quartiere viene aggredito assieme a lui.
Si libera dal suo antisemitismo perché per quei pazzi furiosi il sembrare è già essere: ma essere cosa?
Essere tutto quello che il talentuoso Celine rovescia in bella prosa modernista ( quasi postmoderna!) in duecento pagine illeggibili: beceri pregiudizi indegni di un maestro anche se solo a posteriori.
Il modesto A. Miller ( quello a cui tutti preferiscono l’Henry dei Tropici) mette magnificamente in scena i violenti portatori americani di quei pregiudizi d’autore, facendoti provare nausea vera non con un truculento melodramma ma usando un uomo piccolo piccolo, propenso a stare nell’ombra e a fare come le tre scimmiette e come i milioni di tedeschi del III Raich, suo malgrado costretto a mettersi nei panni di un ebreo. Facendone un uomo dabbene.
Potrei lisciare il pelo ai miei quattro lettori su raccomandazione ( in realtà lo sto facendo) raccontando di averlo scovato intonso tra i libri trasportati in campagna alla rinfusa: intonso e con un anobino vivo e vegeto che vi passeggiava sopra.
N. 52 della primavera del 1966. Sicuramente comprato sull’onda emotiva del film di Visconti di qualche anno prima trasmesso in tv; messo da parte per impegni scolastici ( esami di V ginnasio) prima e per pregiudizi mutuati dai maîtres à penser sessantottini poi ( non tutti ci arrivammo a quegli anni con Proust, Joyce ,Kerouac o Balestrini).
Chi pensa che il caso non abbia le sue leggi si sbaglia.
M’ero portata in campagna una manciatina di libri tra cui Bagatelle. Che c’era di meglio per uscire dal disgusto che mi aveva lasciato il troppo lodato Ferdinand che aggrapparsi a un vecchio Oscar degli anni miei quando … Ogni diletto e gioco Indugi(avo) in altro tempo?
Giuro, dell’autore ricordavo solo il nome di quei due drammi celebri e gli “Spostati” e logicamente il suo matrimonio con Marylin, oltre la smorfia di disprezzo al solo pronunciare il suo nome.
Quando ho cominciato a leggerlo ho capito che Arthur non aveva fatto che mettere in scena i Ferdinand americani con tutto il loro bagaglio di antisemitismo e le loro vittime.
Singer il minore aveva accennato al disagio di sentirsi ebrei nella democraticcissima America e anche Roth ne ha fatto un suo argomento privilegiato: ma li avevo letti come fatti privati in quel mondo libero in quei tempi bui del vecchio continente: un disagio di chi non accetta di essere come tutti. Di essere affetti da quella che la psicologia ha definito con un acronimo SCARED (il gruppo delle reazioni che il diverso subisce nella società): osservazione insistente, curiosità, disgusto, ripulsa, imbarazzo e terrore.
Ma questo non è che il primo passo che il non ebreo, antisemita moderato, Lawrence Newman dalle fattezze semitiche ( ma che cazzo sono queste stigmate?) deve subire: sul lavoro, nel suo quartiere, nei bar, nei posti di vacanza.
Quando sposa una bella donna,antisemita spinta ma disgraziatamente anche lei con tratti ebraici, le cose precipitano: viene aggredito, malmenato e tradito dalla stessa sposina. Ma il suo riscatto morale è dietro l’angolo dove il vero ebreo pasticciere del quartiere viene aggredito assieme a lui.
Si libera dal suo antisemitismo perché per quei pazzi furiosi il sembrare è già essere: ma essere cosa?
Essere tutto quello che il talentuoso Celine rovescia in bella prosa modernista ( quasi postmoderna!) in duecento pagine illeggibili: beceri pregiudizi indegni di un maestro anche se solo a posteriori.
Il modesto A. Miller ( quello a cui tutti preferiscono l’Henry dei Tropici) mette magnificamente in scena i violenti portatori americani di quei pregiudizi d’autore, facendoti provare nausea vera non con un truculento melodramma ma usando un uomo piccolo piccolo, propenso a stare nell’ombra e a fare come le tre scimmiette e come i milioni di tedeschi del III Raich, suo malgrado costretto a mettersi nei panni di un ebreo. Facendone un uomo dabbene.
February 25, 2020
"Фокус" на Артър Милър е разтърсващ роман за омразата и насаждането на омраза, написан много увлекателно. Напрежението постепенно се покачваше до ескалирането му накрая. Много ме замисли този роман, той е и единственият, който този автор е написал. Любопитен факт за него е, че е бил женен за Мерилин Монро от 1956 до 1961 г.
Накратко, романът е за трансформацията на един човек, който цял живот е мразел евреите, но надявайки очила на носа си, заприличва на евреин. Няма да издавам повече, но тази книга показва антисемитизмът по време на Втората световна война в Америка. Държава, която проповядва демократични ценности, е позволявала съществуването на Християнски фронтове, които са насаждали омраза и са подтиквали към насилие спрямо евреите. Гонили са ги от кварталите, биели са ги, правили са събрания, за да се надъхват едни други, а държавата, не че го е позволявала, но и не е правила нищо, за да стопира това. Ето един много замислящ цитат от книгата: "Полицията много добре знае какво става. Само че няма закон, който да забранява на хората да се мразят. Сякаш..., сякаш в това няма нищо нередно."
Накратко, романът е за трансформацията на един човек, който цял живот е мразел евреите, но надявайки очила на носа си, заприличва на евреин. Няма да издавам повече, но тази книга показва антисемитизмът по време на Втората световна война в Америка. Държава, която проповядва демократични ценности, е позволявала съществуването на Християнски фронтове, които са насаждали омраза и са подтиквали към насилие спрямо евреите. Гонили са ги от кварталите, биели са ги, правили са събрания, за да се надъхват едни други, а държавата, не че го е позволявала, но и не е правила нищо, за да стопира това. Ето един много замислящ цитат от книгата: "Полицията много добре знае какво става. Само че няма закон, който да забранява на хората да се мразят. Сякаш..., сякаш в това няма нищо нередно."
January 27, 2013
Just who is the main character in Arthur Miller's Focus? Is is Mr. Newman or Mr. Finklestein? Only if the reader makes Mr. Finklestein the main character can you actually see that Arthur Miller thought anti-Semitism to be wrong. I humbly feel that the real focus of Focus is the persecution of Mr. Finklestein for nothing more than being "Jewish". I want to call it shocking how anti-Semitic almost the whole cast of characters (even Mr. Newman) are but the real truth is that I know that religious, racial and ethnic persecution still exist even in our America today so I can't even feign some surprise in it. Arthur Miller is correct in his assessment of the racism and in his indictment of the anti-Semitism that existed in the forefront of his time. It is true that the amount of and brutality of the hate crimes in the novel are hard to read about. They are so hard to read through that the hate crimes could leave a reader so disgusted by those events that they could easily miss the entire point of this novel.
April 5, 2018
Bir topluluğun (toplumun) doğuştan gelen belli özellikler merkezinde değil ilkeler üzerine kurulmasının gerekliliği, mahalle baskısı, ırkçılık, kadın erkek ilişkileri sade akıcı bir dille anlatılmış. Sevdim çarpıcı bir kitap olmuş.
May 19, 2010
Man, this book opened my eyes to a piece of American history I had no idea happened. A short-sighted man, a gentile, avoids wearing glasses because they accentuate those features of his that bring to mind the stereotypical face of a jew. A dangerous image at a time when America is going through a nasty phase of anti-semitism, looking to blame the jews for all their problems; the economy, the war, the perceived decline in their neighbourhoods. When his eyesight gets so poor it noticably affects his work, his boss insists on him wearing specs and then his troubles really begin. These new specactles are so powerful even his surname begins to look jewish. Then, if things didn't seem bad enough, he falls in love and marries another gentile who looks a bit jewish too. Oi vay!
There's a perfect twist at the end. A good book, a great lesson, it made me think about my own prejudices, unconscious or otherwise.
There's a perfect twist at the end. A good book, a great lesson, it made me think about my own prejudices, unconscious or otherwise.
June 28, 2024
This book reads like a parable in a really good way. Definitely an under appreciated book for how directly it confronts racism and antisemitism. TW: hate speech, racial slurs, violence
December 7, 2019
When first published in 1945, Focus was one of the few pieces of fiction that explicitly shined a light on the very real rise of Anti-Semitism and bigotry on American shores, even while American troops were fighting fascist regimes overseas. Bigotry can rear its pernicious head in any community at any time; this was Arthur Miller’s point. That said, I would argue that Focus serves a greater role as a historical document, than it does as a relevant narrative for the modern era.
Overall, Miller treats the concept that “racism is bad” as this a jaw-dropping revelation, which in a present context is patronizingly insulting. In this day and age saying that "Anti-Semitism is bad" is obvious, not a bombshell illumination. This is compounded by the fact that Anti-Semitism is still alive and thriving in the United States, occurring in scale from casual micro-aggressions to outright assault in the case of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting of 2018.
Furthermore, I would argue that Miller is a far better playwright than he is a novelist. The loud and overly simplistic Focus lacks the nuance and affect of better work like The Crucible. So, if you are a fan of Miller’s work, this one may fall out-of-focus for you (this is a dad pun my father insisted I include in this review, sorry). If you want to read about early works denouncing Anti-Semitism, then Focus is a document with historical merit. Otherwise, I’d say skip it for something more impactful like Elie Wiesel’s Night.
Rating: 2.5 stars
Overall, Miller treats the concept that “racism is bad” as this a jaw-dropping revelation, which in a present context is patronizingly insulting. In this day and age saying that "Anti-Semitism is bad" is obvious, not a bombshell illumination. This is compounded by the fact that Anti-Semitism is still alive and thriving in the United States, occurring in scale from casual micro-aggressions to outright assault in the case of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting of 2018.
Furthermore, I would argue that Miller is a far better playwright than he is a novelist. The loud and overly simplistic Focus lacks the nuance and affect of better work like The Crucible. So, if you are a fan of Miller’s work, this one may fall out-of-focus for you (this is a dad pun my father insisted I include in this review, sorry). If you want to read about early works denouncing Anti-Semitism, then Focus is a document with historical merit. Otherwise, I’d say skip it for something more impactful like Elie Wiesel’s Night.
Rating: 2.5 stars
October 15, 2007
This is a really fantastic and true to life novel and also the only novel Arthur Miller ever wrote. It tells the story of time in American history flooded with anti-semitism and too close to our own time to feel like the racism is fully behind us. Newman, a man living in post World War II Brooklyn, holds the same level of anti-semitism that is brewing in the neighborhoods around him. He has gone about apathetic to his ignornant bigoting until his eyesight forces him to get glasses that cause him to appear "uncannily Jewish." Suddenly he experiences a world of restrictions and gentlemen's agreements that leave him alienated and wondering what it is exactly he and so much of America are really intolerant about. Though Miller was predominantly a playwright, this novel proves that his talents went beyond scripts and drama. Focus is a really engaging and unsettling read that unfortunately strikes a cord today sixty years after it caused an outrage when it was first published.
June 8, 2011
1945 novel focusing on one man's response to anti-Semitism ... after a new pair of eyeglasses makes him "look like a Jew." A bit dated but still powerful and provocative. Ignorance and hatred of "the other" is sadly timeless.
May 27, 2025
An incredible read.
At first, it feels pretty slow—but that’s kind of the point. It lulls you into the everyday world of Newman, an average man living in 1940s New York, profiting off of the casual discrimination that was common place. But once he gets a new pair of glasses and people think he looks Jewish, everything changes.
The way Miller handles prejudice is unsettling because it’s so ordinary—small looks, comments, quiet shifts in behavior—and suddenly Newman is on the receiving end of the same discrimination he used to ignore. His transformation isn’t dramatic, but it’s powerful. You watch him go from passive and complicit to someone who’s forced to really see the ugliness around him—in those he loves, and ultimately in himself.
It’s a short read, but one that really sticks with you. Would recommend.
At first, it feels pretty slow—but that’s kind of the point. It lulls you into the everyday world of Newman, an average man living in 1940s New York, profiting off of the casual discrimination that was common place. But once he gets a new pair of glasses and people think he looks Jewish, everything changes.
The way Miller handles prejudice is unsettling because it’s so ordinary—small looks, comments, quiet shifts in behavior—and suddenly Newman is on the receiving end of the same discrimination he used to ignore. His transformation isn’t dramatic, but it’s powerful. You watch him go from passive and complicit to someone who’s forced to really see the ugliness around him—in those he loves, and ultimately in himself.
It’s a short read, but one that really sticks with you. Would recommend.
March 29, 2024
En Focus, el legendario dramaturgo norteamericano Arthur Miller despliega su maestría literaria al entrelazar las vicisitudes de la vida con la trama de la obra, como un tejedor hábil que entreteje los hilos del destino con destreza y precisión. A través de cada diálogo y cada descripción, Miller nos sumerge en un mundo lleno de matices y contrastes, donde la luz y la oscuridad se entrelazan en un ballet eterno.
La prosa de Miller es como un poema en movimiento,—me ha dejado enamorado— que danza en las páginas con una gracia y una elegancia incomparables. Cada palabra está impregnada de significado y emoción, cada frase resuena con la verdad universal de la experiencia humana. Con su habilidad para capturar la esencia misma de la vida en sus escritos, Miller nos invita a reflexionar sobre nuestro propio viaje en este mundo efímero.
En las páginas de esta obra tan coherente nos encontramos con un elenco de personajes que encarnan los anhelos y las angustias de la sociedad moderna. Desde el protagonista, cuya búsqueda de significado lo lleva a enfrentarse a las sombras de su propio ser, hasta los secundarios que tejen la trama con sus propios dilemas y deseos, cada uno es un reflejo vívido de la complejidad del alma humana.
En resumen, este libro es una obra que deja una impresión duradera en el lector, una reflexión profunda sobre la naturaleza misma del ser humano y sus luchas internas. Con su prosa cautivadora y su mirada penetrante, Arthur Miller nos regala una joya literaria que resuena con la eterna búsqueda del significado en un mundo lleno de sombras y luces.
La prosa de Miller es como un poema en movimiento,—me ha dejado enamorado— que danza en las páginas con una gracia y una elegancia incomparables. Cada palabra está impregnada de significado y emoción, cada frase resuena con la verdad universal de la experiencia humana. Con su habilidad para capturar la esencia misma de la vida en sus escritos, Miller nos invita a reflexionar sobre nuestro propio viaje en este mundo efímero.
En las páginas de esta obra tan coherente nos encontramos con un elenco de personajes que encarnan los anhelos y las angustias de la sociedad moderna. Desde el protagonista, cuya búsqueda de significado lo lleva a enfrentarse a las sombras de su propio ser, hasta los secundarios que tejen la trama con sus propios dilemas y deseos, cada uno es un reflejo vívido de la complejidad del alma humana.
En resumen, este libro es una obra que deja una impresión duradera en el lector, una reflexión profunda sobre la naturaleza misma del ser humano y sus luchas internas. Con su prosa cautivadora y su mirada penetrante, Arthur Miller nos regala una joya literaria que resuena con la eterna búsqueda del significado en un mundo lleno de sombras y luces.
March 17, 2020
Apparently, Arthur Miller writes novels as well as he writes plays. A gripping novel.
In the final pages of the novel, a city wrought with hate is described perfectly, a city of mad people:
"The city and the millions upon millions hiving all over it-and they were going mad. He saw it so clearly that it was hardly alarming, for what he understood he no longer feared. They were going mad. People were in asylums for being afraid that the sky would fall, and here were millions walking around as insane as anyone could be who feared the shape of a human face."
In the final pages of the novel, a city wrought with hate is described perfectly, a city of mad people:
"The city and the millions upon millions hiving all over it-and they were going mad. He saw it so clearly that it was hardly alarming, for what he understood he no longer feared. They were going mad. People were in asylums for being afraid that the sky would fall, and here were millions walking around as insane as anyone could be who feared the shape of a human face."
July 16, 2022
Uff, muy bueno.
Una objeción: el único personaje femenino relevante está escrito de manera absurda. Hacia la mitad del libro me pregunté si la historia trataría únicamente de su romance, bastante plano, y se olvidaría del punto inicial, pero retomó la idea con bastante sentido.
La historia de Itzik y la posterior reflexión, extraordinaria. Quise buscar más sobre ello pero no encontré nada, me pregunto si Miller la inventó.
El final, muy humano. Me da esperanzas respecto al futuro, a pesar de ser un libro de 1945.
Una objeción: el único personaje femenino relevante está escrito de manera absurda. Hacia la mitad del libro me pregunté si la historia trataría únicamente de su romance, bastante plano, y se olvidaría del punto inicial, pero retomó la idea con bastante sentido.
La historia de Itzik y la posterior reflexión, extraordinaria. Quise buscar más sobre ello pero no encontré nada, me pregunto si Miller la inventó.
El final, muy humano. Me da esperanzas respecto al futuro, a pesar de ser un libro de 1945.
October 23, 2019
Um par de óculos entre o ser e o parecer. Quando um homem é empurrado para o papel de vítima do seu preconceito e descobre que não há ódio sem consequências.
fic-guided
July 8, 2020What are the best novels about the subtle workings of American post-war anti-Semitism? A toss-up, one would think, between Philip Roth’s THE HUMAN STAIN, Laura Z. Hobson’s Gentleman’s Agreement (1947), Bernard Malamud’s The Assistant (1957), Edward Lewis Wallant’s The Pawnbroker (1961) and Arthur Miller’s Focus. The latter is the earliest and, as reviewers (even sympathetic reviewers) noted, somewhat clunky in its narrative technique. Miller’s strengths would prove to be theatrical. But this, the one novel he wrote, carries an angry man’s punch and is all the stronger for its straight-from-the-shoulder, rough-house technique. The main contention of the novel is that persecution is not merely located in far-away Nazi Germany. It can be found on the underground pillars of the New York subway, in the scrawled graffiti reading ‘Kill Kikes!’
The story opens with a night scene of a young woman screaming pathetically in the street for help after she has been sexually assaulted and beaten up. No householder on the block helps, or even calls the cops. She has a Puerto Rican accent and this is not a ‘Spic’ neighbourhood. She’ll be carted away by the garbage trucks, not an ambulance. The narrative which follows is bare-bones simple. A middle-aged New Yorker, Lawrence Newman, lives in Manhattan with his paralysed mother and works in a Manhattan firm as a ‘personnel manager’. One of his principal responsibilities is keeping the personnel gentile, by tactful rejection of any applicant openly or secretly Jewish, or even ‘Jewish-looking’. He carries out that duty with an applicant who angrily, and correctly, protests that she isn’t – even though she may look it. One day Newman is reprimanded. His standard of work is falling off. He’s letting them through. The fault is easily fixed – his eyes need to be corrected. He cannot tolerate the contacts available in 1945 (few could, the lenses were as large and rigid as goldfish bowls). But when he puts on framed spectacles he ‘looks Jewish’. And yet, without the visual aids, he will be dismissed for incompetence. It’s Kafka’s Metamorphosis:
One morning, as Gregor Samsa was waking up from anxious dreams, he discovered that in his bed he had been changed into a monstrous verminous beetle.
Newman’s boss kindly suggests he move into a back office, out of public view. He resigns angrily but getting a new job proves impossible. Everywhere it’s ‘the polite smile of refusal’. It doesn’t help that ‘Newman’ is a common Anglicisation of Jewish names (as, for example, with the actor Paul Newman). It’s hugely unfair, Newman thinks. His family came over in the nineteeth century from England: he even knows the village’s name. He served his country in the First World War and killed a ‘Fritz’. His best buddy, Fred, is an active member of the ‘Christian Front’, a neo-Fascist organisation devoted to cleaning the Jews out of America. (This actual organisation flourished in the late 1930s and early 1940s, fuelled by the ‘radio sermons’ of ‘Father [Charles] Coughlin’. Among other racist nonsense Coughlin promoted the belief that President ‘Rosenvelt’ was part of a worldwide Jewish conspiracy.) Miller’s novel is set in the early forties, with the Front going strong. A campaign is mounted in Newman’s own street, directed against the corner shopkeeper Finkelstein. ‘They’ll be moving niggers in on us next,’ says Fred.
Newman finally gets a job at a Jewish firm. One of his colleagues, he discovers, is Gertrude, the woman he turned down earlier for looking what she wasn’t. They marry. On the honeymoon the couple discover hotels mysteriously don’t have their booked rooms. It’s ‘how they look’. Gertrude becomes a self-hating Jew who is not even a Jew. Newman, after getting roughed up at a Christian Front rally, leaves her. There is a powerful last scene. Finkelstein and Newman are physically attacked on their street. Newman goes to lodge a complaint. The Irish cop asks where he lives and, as an afterthought, ‘How many of you people live there?’ Just the two of us, says Newman.
Focus was belatedly filmed in 2002. It was co-produced by Michael Bloomberg, who was elected Mayor of New York the same year. He evidently felt his city still had something to learn from Miller’s novel.
The story opens with a night scene of a young woman screaming pathetically in the street for help after she has been sexually assaulted and beaten up. No householder on the block helps, or even calls the cops. She has a Puerto Rican accent and this is not a ‘Spic’ neighbourhood. She’ll be carted away by the garbage trucks, not an ambulance. The narrative which follows is bare-bones simple. A middle-aged New Yorker, Lawrence Newman, lives in Manhattan with his paralysed mother and works in a Manhattan firm as a ‘personnel manager’. One of his principal responsibilities is keeping the personnel gentile, by tactful rejection of any applicant openly or secretly Jewish, or even ‘Jewish-looking’. He carries out that duty with an applicant who angrily, and correctly, protests that she isn’t – even though she may look it. One day Newman is reprimanded. His standard of work is falling off. He’s letting them through. The fault is easily fixed – his eyes need to be corrected. He cannot tolerate the contacts available in 1945 (few could, the lenses were as large and rigid as goldfish bowls). But when he puts on framed spectacles he ‘looks Jewish’. And yet, without the visual aids, he will be dismissed for incompetence. It’s Kafka’s Metamorphosis:
One morning, as Gregor Samsa was waking up from anxious dreams, he discovered that in his bed he had been changed into a monstrous verminous beetle.
Newman’s boss kindly suggests he move into a back office, out of public view. He resigns angrily but getting a new job proves impossible. Everywhere it’s ‘the polite smile of refusal’. It doesn’t help that ‘Newman’ is a common Anglicisation of Jewish names (as, for example, with the actor Paul Newman). It’s hugely unfair, Newman thinks. His family came over in the nineteeth century from England: he even knows the village’s name. He served his country in the First World War and killed a ‘Fritz’. His best buddy, Fred, is an active member of the ‘Christian Front’, a neo-Fascist organisation devoted to cleaning the Jews out of America. (This actual organisation flourished in the late 1930s and early 1940s, fuelled by the ‘radio sermons’ of ‘Father [Charles] Coughlin’. Among other racist nonsense Coughlin promoted the belief that President ‘Rosenvelt’ was part of a worldwide Jewish conspiracy.) Miller’s novel is set in the early forties, with the Front going strong. A campaign is mounted in Newman’s own street, directed against the corner shopkeeper Finkelstein. ‘They’ll be moving niggers in on us next,’ says Fred.
Newman finally gets a job at a Jewish firm. One of his colleagues, he discovers, is Gertrude, the woman he turned down earlier for looking what she wasn’t. They marry. On the honeymoon the couple discover hotels mysteriously don’t have their booked rooms. It’s ‘how they look’. Gertrude becomes a self-hating Jew who is not even a Jew. Newman, after getting roughed up at a Christian Front rally, leaves her. There is a powerful last scene. Finkelstein and Newman are physically attacked on their street. Newman goes to lodge a complaint. The Irish cop asks where he lives and, as an afterthought, ‘How many of you people live there?’ Just the two of us, says Newman.
Focus was belatedly filmed in 2002. It was co-produced by Michael Bloomberg, who was elected Mayor of New York the same year. He evidently felt his city still had something to learn from Miller’s novel.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 7, 2018
Miller's only novel suggests he could have become just as great a novelist as he did a playwright. First published in 1945, the theme is anti-Semitism in America, and Miller admits himself in the introduction (written in 1986) that this turned out to be a less major threat than it had seemed at the time. However, it would be a mistake to assume that the book is in any way dated or irrelevant, especially as the recent resurgence of the far right has once again emboldened the racists.
I always enjoy it when a writer presents you with an unlikable and unsympathetic character as the main protagonist and somehow makes you feel for them despite their major flaws, and that's exactly what Miller manages here. The story is entirely focused on Newman, a careful and colourless man in his 40s whose eyesight is failing. Newman works for a company that does not employ Jews and he is himself mildly anti-Semitic. Unfortunately, when his eyesight becomes so bad he is forced to wear glasses, he finds that the glasses make him appear Jewish and everyone begins to act differently towards him...
Miller makes this unlikely-sounding set-up entirely convincing and produces a novel which has an important message but is never didactic. In fact, it's entertaining, grimly funny at times, and always compelling.
I always enjoy it when a writer presents you with an unlikable and unsympathetic character as the main protagonist and somehow makes you feel for them despite their major flaws, and that's exactly what Miller manages here. The story is entirely focused on Newman, a careful and colourless man in his 40s whose eyesight is failing. Newman works for a company that does not employ Jews and he is himself mildly anti-Semitic. Unfortunately, when his eyesight becomes so bad he is forced to wear glasses, he finds that the glasses make him appear Jewish and everyone begins to act differently towards him...
Miller makes this unlikely-sounding set-up entirely convincing and produces a novel which has an important message but is never didactic. In fact, it's entertaining, grimly funny at times, and always compelling.
August 12, 2018
I came across this novel in a used bookstore and thought the premise sounded fascinating, especially since I've been a fan of Miller's dramatic works. The story follows Lawrence Newman after he awakes in the middle of the night to hearing a screaming woman being assaulted. But since the woman is a minority, he largely seems to pay it no mind. The bachelor enjoys a home in a white Christian neighborhood and works in New York City and is largely successful until his eyesight gets the best of him and he's forced to get glasses. His glasses, as he feared, make him appear more Jewish in the race-obsessed world of the World War II 1940s. What follows is Lawrence's demise as those around him increasingly suspect him to be a Jew and he becomes subjected to the same cruel realities that he perpetuated just months before.
Miller's tale is a classic tale of what it's like to live in another man's shoes but also well layered with reflection by Lawrence as he comes to weigh the meaning behind the white supremacist view and how easily it insinuates itself into the minds of the privileged. Originally published in 1945, there is so much about this book that resonates with the world today that it could have easily been written as today with only slight adjustments.
Miller's tale is a classic tale of what it's like to live in another man's shoes but also well layered with reflection by Lawrence as he comes to weigh the meaning behind the white supremacist view and how easily it insinuates itself into the minds of the privileged. Originally published in 1945, there is so much about this book that resonates with the world today that it could have easily been written as today with only slight adjustments.
September 23, 2017
"O que o senhor vê que o deixa tão louco quando olha para mim?" (Pag. 208)
. .
A história se passa em New York, perto do fim da segunda guerra. O clima é extremamente hostil para os judeus, seja pela guerra (muitos os consideravam os causadores dela, logo, culpados), mas principalmente pelo preconceito formado. O personagem, Lawrence Newman, não é propriamente um antisemita, mas ignora o tratamento rude, hostil e violento que é destinado aos judeus no meio em que vive...isso, até ele precisar usar óculos, e acabar sendo confundido com um judeu, o que afeta sua vida de forma drástica.
O desenrolar da história até o clímax e consequente final, é muito bem amarrado e escrito. Eu achava que ia ser bem clichê, do tipo, "agora que ele recebe o tratamento igual dos judeus, percebe como tudo é injusto, e acaba se curando de seu preconceito"..mas, não, é muito mais complexo que isso! Arthur Miller deu um senso de realidade aos personagens, que fiquei me perguntando se não pode ter sido real, de tão bem pensado e escrito.
Esse tipo de história sempre me deixa uma impressão de distopia..pessoas se reunindo para incentivar ódio por outra pessoas, por causa da origem, cor...enfim, achando normal o uso da violência, isso sempre vai me parecer irreal. Que medo!
. .
A história se passa em New York, perto do fim da segunda guerra. O clima é extremamente hostil para os judeus, seja pela guerra (muitos os consideravam os causadores dela, logo, culpados), mas principalmente pelo preconceito formado. O personagem, Lawrence Newman, não é propriamente um antisemita, mas ignora o tratamento rude, hostil e violento que é destinado aos judeus no meio em que vive...isso, até ele precisar usar óculos, e acabar sendo confundido com um judeu, o que afeta sua vida de forma drástica.
O desenrolar da história até o clímax e consequente final, é muito bem amarrado e escrito. Eu achava que ia ser bem clichê, do tipo, "agora que ele recebe o tratamento igual dos judeus, percebe como tudo é injusto, e acaba se curando de seu preconceito"..mas, não, é muito mais complexo que isso! Arthur Miller deu um senso de realidade aos personagens, que fiquei me perguntando se não pode ter sido real, de tão bem pensado e escrito.
Esse tipo de história sempre me deixa uma impressão de distopia..pessoas se reunindo para incentivar ódio por outra pessoas, por causa da origem, cor...enfim, achando normal o uso da violência, isso sempre vai me parecer irreal. Que medo!
October 11, 2014
A bold and powerful attack on the wartime anti-Semitism prevalent in America prior to the revelation of the full extent of the holocaust's horrors. Written with wit and Orwellian simplicity, Miller shows the supposed evils of the semitic character to be a mere reflection of the suspicions a collective with an identity (in this case, the good Christian folk of America) would like to express towards all humans, their distrustworthy selves included, projected onto an "other". Penned by a man better known for his topical and acerbic plays, what begins as an amusing sub-Metamorphosis tale of a man whose new pair of glasses transform him into a Jew develops into a thoughtful story of racial acceptance. Fiery prose.
December 6, 2014
Though ultimately the feeling after reading Focus is that something was missing -- something that could have earned the novel five stars and masterpiece status -- Focus is still a quality read and highly recommended. Miller is adept at creating rich characters with real personalities and inner souls, at generating suspense through foreshadow, and at involving the reader through conflict. The theme is looking the other way when your fellow man is in distress leads to yourself falling victim to the very forces you shied away from engaging with. The theme is developed through the use of racial stereotypes as the platform for scapegoating and struggling for power. Miller's writing is precise and intense. This book is borderline 5 stars.
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