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On a Clear April Morning, by Marcos Iolovitch, is a lyrical and riveting coming of age story set among early twentieth-century settlers brought to an almost unknown Jewish farming experiment in an isolated corner of Brazil. This autobiographical novel is filled with drama, joy, disasters, romance, and humor. It travels from farms where the crops won’t grow to towns where the Yiddish-speaking protagonist falls in love, befriends sons of German immigrants, studies philosophy with the Jesuits, and becomes an important member of Brazil’s literary world. This first English edition includes elucidating historical notes on the origin of Jewish farming communities in the U.S., Canada and South America by the translator, Merrie Blocker, a retired U.S. Foreign Service officer.
“[A] moving and heartbreaking immigrant account that began with a relatively abundant life in Zagradowka, a village in the Ukrainian province of Kherson. … I urge readers to discover for themselves this unassuming masterpiece.”
— Irena Karshenbaum, Jewish Post & News
“Marcos Iolovitch’s On a Clear April Morning is an autobiography—first published in Portuguese in 1940 with a second edition in 1987, and now introduced to English readers by Merrie Blocker. A series of short memories arranged in twenty-seven chapters of chronological order and without an overarching dramatic arc, the book becomes a chronicle rather than a novel—a chronicle of a specific time and a specific Jewish immigrant experience. Nevertheless, these are often delicately described, and the book is beautifully translated as Blocker manages to transmit the Portuguese into an English that flows naturally even through paragraph-length sentences, successfully keeping the translation as close as possible to the original phrasing without losing the musicality of Iolovitch’s writing.”
—Eva Wissting, Asymptote
“An oft-cited fact of history is that the first Jewish community in colonial America consisted of Jews from Brazil who were fleeing the long arm of the Inquisition. Beyond that, however, we hear very little of the place where they came from. That’s why On a Clear April Morning, a novel written in Portuguese by the late Marcos Iolovitch, first published in Brazil in 1940 and only recently translated into English by Merrie Blocker, is such an exceptional book. … The book is considerably enriched by the foreword, preface and afterword that appear in Blocker’s translation. Yet, even with the enriching efforts of Merrie Blocker and other contributors to the English edition, Marcos Iolovitch is truly and fully himself, a writer who wins us over completely.”
—Jonathan Kirsch, the Jewish Journal
“In this very interesting Jewish immigration story, Iolovitch throws light on Jewish emigration and life in South America. … The poetic language of Iolovich in this novel is very readable and well worth the time.”
—Marcia R. Rudin, Reform Judaism
Born in a small Ukrainian village, Marcos Iolovitch was raised in southern Brazil among poor Jewish farmers and peddlers. He became a noted poet and essayist and practiced law. A fighter for social justice, he dedicated his autobiographical novel to “all those who suffer and dream of a better world.”
Merrie Blocker is a former U.S. diplomat who served as Cultural Attaché in Porto Alegre, Brazil, the setting for On a Clear April Morning, as well as in Central Asia and Romania and throughout Latin America.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Preface to the Second Edition by Moacyr Scliar, 1987
Translator’s Preface
On a Clear April Morning
Afterword
Notes
References