The Ultimate Intimacy - Softcover

Kleima, Ivan; Brain, A.G.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 080213601X ISBN 13: 9780802136015

Publisher: Grove Press, 1998

Synopsis

When a beautiful married woman walks into Pastor Daniel Vedra's life and conjures up memories of his first wife, Jitka, he struggles with the chaos the affair creates for his wife, his children, his vocation, and his future.

About this title

Review

It's easy to tease out the serious themes in Ivan Klima's novel of ideas--religious belief vs earthly love; freedom vs responsibility; scepticism vs belief; and the burdens of the communist past vs those of the capitalist present. But The Ultimate Intimacy is far more than a metaphysical point/counterpoint. Klima's exploration of one crucial year in the life of a good minister, who discovers that truth and passion can be all too distant, is no simple construction. Born in 1944 and having grown up in Czechoslovakia in a time "when hate was publicly proclaimed as something necessary", and now living in an era in which "having a good memory tends to be a disadvantage", Daniel Vedra is determined to live according to the biblical certainties he proclaims. Alas, at a particularly low point following his mother's death he is distracted by a mysterious (and beautiful) churchgoer, and the two are soon entangled. In lesser hands the situation might be incredible or, at best, credible but hackneyed. In Klima's complex narration, however, Daniel's crisis becomes a powerful drama of faith and, perhaps, salvation.

Edition details

• Publisher: Grove Press
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 080213601X
• ISBN 13: 9780802136015
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 387