The historical note on the last page offers a broader context for the legend, ultimately comparing the creation of Golem to the emergence of Israel. Winner of the 1997 Caldecott Medal Retold from traditional sources and accompanied by David Wisniewskis unique cut-paper illustrations, Golem is a dramatic tale of supernatural forces invoked to save an oppressed people. Echoing the tension and mood of Frankenstein, Wisniewski sends the tragic giant back to the blood red earth that birthed him. (This was the time of the Blood Lie, when hostile gentiles claimed that Jews were mixing the blood of Christian children with the flour and water of matzo.) David Wisniewski's cut-paper collage illustrations-which earned him the Caldecott Medal in 1997-are the ideal medium for portraying the stark black-and-white forces of good and evil, pride and prejudice, as well as the gray area that emerges when the tormented clay giant loses control of his anger. According to Jewish legend, the renowned scholar and teacher Rabbi Loew used his powers to create a Golem from clay in order to protect his people from persecution in the ghettos of 16th-century Prague.
Golem is the Hebrew word for shapeless man.
0 kommentar(er)
