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| | Commentary Magazine - Ash on a Young Man's Sleeve, by Dannie Abse (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-05) |
 | | ...Abse's novel is interesting, in its savory authenticity, as incontrovertible proof against our own provincial incredulity (and against the tendency to make all this a big joke, which Daiches has capitalized on), he has not come to terms with his own history enough to show the full commitment and conviction necessary to a novelist... |
 | | ...Abse tries, rather over-insistently, to show how much, how terribly and crucially much, is going on in the world as Dan is growing up in Cardiff in the 30's, the mark he is saying it left on the boy is never felt creatively enough to leave a lasting mark on us... |
 | | ...Abse is at his best is where he comes most intensely in touch with his own world, the Jewish life of Cardiff that is distinctly his, and felt, and now, through his efforts, neither outlandish nor merely comic for us... |
| www.commentarymagazine.com /Summaries/V19I4P96-1.htm (1675 words) |
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