Time and Time Again: Autobiographies

These autobiographical essays describe two worlds, two different times and parts of Jacobson's life. The first is his early years growing up in Kimberly , South Africa. The second are the first years of his life in London. The first set of essays are rich in characters, family, neighbors, school- acquaintances, teachers. I found particularly striking Jacobson's story of an incident where he was treated cruelly by a teacher and the 'bulls' of his class. In this incident Jacobson gives a riveting description of the effect of such intimidation on the soul of the boycotted child. In another powerful essay he writes of an immigrant Jewish South African who unusually takes an Afrikaaner( as opposed to 'English') identity and who later upon sensing with the Cuban invasion of Angola that the Communists are about to destroy his Afrikaaner world , takes his own life. After South Africa Jacobson finds London to be a spacious land of incredible variety and liberation. He describes here key encounters, including one with the famed critic F.R. Leavis, and tells us how an incidental meeting leads to a dramatic change in his life, his meeting with his future wife. In the last chapters of the book he focuses on his uncle's and his father's last years. He also writes on a spell of his own as a patient. There is a sense , an underlying tone of gloom in these pages. But Jacobson is a serious, strong, insightful writer whose work is well- worth reading.