Synopses & Reviews
"At the age of thirty-five, the fashionable Viennese playwright and journalist Theodor Herzl fantasized about the collective conversion of the Jews in a mass ceremony at the cathedral of St. Stephen. By the time he died, a mere nine years later, he had redefined Jewish identity in terms of a modern secular faith and created a national movement which, within less than half a century, led to the foundation of the Jewish state."
So begins Ernst Pawel's remarkable study of Herzl. In The Labyrinth of Exile Pawel restores the vital link between the myth of the founding father of Zionism and the human being and demonstrates that the reality of Herzl's life is much more complicated and far more interesting. Legendary and all too human, Herzl remains one of the emblematic figures of modern times.
Review
"Motivated by 'an exalted sense of his own historic mission,' Herzl conceived, organized, and inspired political Zionism, the life force of modern Israel. To explain the life of the man who tried to lead Diaspora Jews out of the labyrinth of exile is a
daunting task, but this scholarly biography succeeds admirably. Far from hagiography, Pawel describes a man who could be as despicable in private as he was inspiring in public. He portrays in detail the metamorphosis of this callow Viennese playwright and poet into an urbane political correspondent for an esteemed liberal newspaper and then into a political force who attempted to convince emperors and sultans of the righteousness of his cause. Here we have the whole man—intense and arrogant, brilliant and vain—whom Pawel sees as the first and only Jewish leader of modern times. His successors have been mere politicians." Reviewed by Daniel Weiss, Virginia Quarterly Review (Copyright 2006 Virginia Quarterly Review)
Review
"Pawel brings to his study of the first Jewish leader in modern times an intellectual energy and literary elegance that combine to make the book not only a masterpiece of its genre but an absorbing, indeed definitive, portrait of a prophet."--Alyn Brodsky,
The Detroit News "A spellbinding narrative...It is impossible to finish this book without feeling the exhilaration that comes from plumbing the depths of a powerful personality."--Jim Miller, Newsweek
About the Author
Ernst Pawel was born in Berlin and lived in Yugoslavia before coming to the United States. He was the author of three novels and the award-winning
The Nightmare of Reason: A Life of Franz Kafka.