Finding the Fit
This article is only a portion of the full article. If you are already a premium subscriber please login. If you are not a premium subscriber, please subscribe for access to all of our content.

            Editors Robert Schwartzwald and Sherry Simon have compiled a representative selection of Roditi’s works, dividing them into four sections, with an introduction for each. A general introduction gives an informative background on Roditi, who is not as well-known as many of the people he writes about. While each section generally covers one topic, such as literary portraits, political issues, and reminiscences, several themes overlap, including homosexuality, literature, and memory. In “Cruising with Hart Crane,” Roditi remembers meeting the American poet at a mutual acquaintance’s Parisian home, after which Crane drags him off to a seedy gay bar. Roditi was shocked by the behavior of his literary hero, urinating in the Métro and abusing the protesting passers-by. He abandons Crane in mid-fight, learning later that he was arrested and deported after another altercation.

  
         In “Tea at Lady Ottoline,” Roditi speaks of his encounter with Eric Blair, not yet George Orwell, and a scene they both witnessed in Trafalgar Square among homeless people that found its way into one of Orwell’s novels. Roditi was later invited to Lady Ottoline’s salon. From an aristocratic family, Lady Ottoline was friendly with the Bloomsbury Group until they snubbed her for, among other eccentricities, wearing a veil to hide her deformed jaw. Roditi, the youngest and most avant-garde member of her literary circle, found Lady Ottoline exceedingly kind. She consulted him on how to assist Stephen Spender’s recently discarded younger male lover, who had been working as Spender’s assistant.

            Even his essays on writers that he doesn’t know personally are insightful. In “The Poetry of Constantine Cavafy,” he notices that Cavafy uses rare words that readers would nevertheless know “by analogy.” Cavafy would meet men by the dock, and during conversation would drop some of these words to see if they understood them. If they did, he would use the words; if not, he would find substitutes. “The Poetry of Yunus Emre” finds connections in themes between Western medieval literature and the 13th-century Turkish poet Emre, and examines Emre’s intimate poems written to his literary and religious mentors, recognizing that to many they read like “love poems.”

            The excerpts from his memoirs make for fascinating reading. “Camondo’s Way” explores two Jewish families distantly related to him. One, a branch of the Rothschilds, is reserved and stuffy, while the other, the Camondos, are warm and inviting. The patriarch, advising the French government on their art collections, encourages Roditi’s own collecting. The Camondos are Sephardic Jews of Eastern and African descent, as is Roditi’s father’s family, and he recounts both families’ backgrounds in Constantinople, Greece, and Italy, working as merchants before leaving for Europe, earning titles for their service to these states. Filled with details and unique characters, these memories remind us of the precarious state of marginalized groups.

            While more examples of Roditi’s poetry and translations would have been appreciated, Worldwise showcases his intellect, his diverse passions, and his sympathies. Hopefully it will encourage readers to seek out more of his work. ______________________________________________________________