The Wanderings of Isaac André Gedalia

This lyrical little book imagines the experiences and possible afterlives of a much-loved but lost little soul. Isaac André Gedalia is our narrator: an endearingly wise and witty unborn child whose spirit transcends mortality in its quest to connect with grieving parents, future alternative mothers, and the enduring tragedy of diaspora and Shoah encoded in his name. A courageous and deeply personal testimony of trauma, it is also a hopeful, humorous meditation on the human condition. -Carol Symes, Professor of History, University of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignI have always been intrigued by the idea of the soul's choice of its self prior to its incarnation, as in Plato's myth of Er, and Kant's "intelligible choice of one's self by the pre-temporal soul." This is the subject of Sylvie Weil's narrative: the voyage of a soul and its desire to (re)find a shelter in a womb. I was particularly charmed by the part devoted to the soul's "transporting itself" to Japan, reminiscent of Japanese tales. -Professor Robert Chenavier, Agrégé and Doctor of Philosophy.

About the Author :
About the Author: Sylvie Weil has published several novels and collections of short stories, as well as several books for young adults. Le Mazal d'Elvina (My Guardian Angel) won the prestigious Prix Sorcières in France and was named a Sydney Taylor Award Honor Book in the U.S.A. Her critically acclaimed memoir Chez les Weil (At Home with André and Simone Weil, Northwestern University Press, 2010) was translated and published in several languages. Her book Selfies, published in Paris in 2015, was translated into English by Ros Schwartz (Les Fugitives, London, 2019). About the Translator: Since 1981 Ros Schwartz has translated some 100 fiction and non-fiction titles from French, including Selfies by Sylvie Weil. In 2010 she published a new translation of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince, and she is currently one of the team retranslating George Simenon's oeuvre for Penguin Classics. In 2009, she was made a Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. Ros gives talks, workshops and masterclasses around the world and is co-director of Bristol Translates literary translation summer school.

Review :
Imaginative and funny, heartbreakingly sincere without ever being sentimental. Pain and grief are transformed into the joy of storytelling, complete with humor, Jewish legends, and inspired fantasies. Beloved souls never leave us. One could almost say this is a beautiful and tender variation on the sacrifice of Isaac. -Marie Odile Germain, General Curator, Bibliotheque nationale de FranceI have always been intrigued by the idea of the soul's choice of its self prior to its incarnation, as in Plato's myth of Er, and Kant's "intelligible choice of one's self by the pre-temporal soul." This is the subject of Sylvie Weil's narrative: the voyage of a soul and its desire to (re)find a shelter in a womb. I was particularly charmed by the part devoted to the soul's "transporting itself" to Japan, reminiscent of Japanese tales. -Professor Robert Chenavier, Agrégé and Doctor of Philosophy.