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Literary Nonfiction » Biography

Uncle Otto's Puppet Theatre: A Jewish Family Saga by Brigid Grauman
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Uncle Otto's Puppet Theatre: A Jewish Family Saga

by Brigid Grauman

The book, according to the author

It meant a lot to me because my sister and I don’t have much family. We have three cousins in America and that’s it. It’s also about not having an identity—feeling neither Irish nor Belgian. I owned these seven memoirs written by family members that served as the basis for the book, and lots of photos, so I felt I had a duty to put this story together.

But writing it also made me feel much more connected to my transgenerational inheritance, to the fact that I am the great-granddaughter of a schnapps bar owner in Vienna. Now I am going to write about the other side of my family, which is Irish. The two books will be a diptych. Maybe I’ll feel incredibly Irish after I’m done with that, but I don’t think it’ll be quite the same. For me, being Jewish is also about this feeling of not belonging anywhere, or of belonging in many places.

The best books on Jewish Vienna recommended by Brigid Grauman

Other books by Brigid Grauman

Onkel Ottos Papiertheater: Eine jüdische Familiensaga by Brigid Grauman

Onkel Ottos Papiertheater: Eine jüdische Familiensaga
by Brigid Grauman

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