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Two Worlds

by David Daiches

ISBN: 9780862417048
Imprint: Canongate Classics
Publication Date: Jun 2008
Format: Paperback
Price: £5.99
Stock Status: in stock

Covering his childhood and student years, David Daiches recalls a unique period between the two world wars. There was something special about the Scottish-Jewish interchange in those years. Daiches was one of the sons of Edinburgh's Chief Rabbi. In their home, a quiet dark hub of foreign faith, memories of light and fesitivity predominate. Illustrious visitors from every corner of the globe would call on the distinguished Rabbi and the sons of the house would argue cheerfully with these itinerant scholars and diplomats. School was Scottish Presbyterian, with its characteristic smells of wood, chalk, ink and schoolbag leather. Daiches did not play games, sing hymns, wear the ubiquitous school shorts or socialize after school, yet not only did he survive these tribulations, he excelled. The book includes the author's memoirs of his father, "Promised Lands". It is a meditation on religious tolerance, and his father's vision of a society that could respect and synthesize cultural difference is of relevance to modern Scotland.

David Daiches (1912 – 2005) was born in Sunderland. His childhood and youth were spent in Edinburgh where his father, Rabbi Dr Salis Daiches, was a distinguished member of the Jewish community. He was educated at George Wasons, Edinburgh University and Balliol College Oxford with postgraduate degrees from both Oxford and Cambridge. Professor of English at the University of Sussex from 1961- 1977, he travelled widely and gained further honours from the Universities of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Stirling and the Sorbonne. He was also a leading critic and scholar and author of over forty books.

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