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Category Archives: Switzerland
Zurich
It poured rain on our first day in Zurich and was the Swiss equivalent of Thanksgiving Day, besides. Of the main churches, the Grossmunster was closed for a vocal concert, the Wasserkirche for services, and St. Peter’s Church for a string ensemble. …
The Business of Dowries
Most of what I knew about Jewish dowries, prior to researching the Einstein novel, came from the stories of Shalom Aleichem, via Tevye the milkman and Fiddler on the Roof. I extend my gratitude and acknowledgment to Marion Kaplan and…
What is an alp?
It’s not a rocky peak in Switzerland, Italy, or France, or so I learn from a 1908 volume called Peep at Many Lands: Switzerland by John Finnemore (London: Adam and Charles Black). It’s one of those lovely old books,…
Posted in Italy, reading, Research methods, Switzerland
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An Exercise in Point-of-View
I’m working on a scene where it’s hard to understand Einstein’s behavior. It’s mid-July, 1901, and Mileva is about to re-sit her exams at the Polytech, having failed them the summer before. It’s her last chance to pass, and, oh-my-god,…
The Wonders of Google Maps
I’ve written before about what a handicap it is to write about a setting I’ve never visited. I can read descriptions in books–and in the case of Albert Einstein, some of the biographers are fine writers who provide me with…