Other works by the same author:

“The Fugitive”

“The Little Conscript”

“One of Us”

“The Tether”

“The Jugglers”


THE

SUBLIME JESTER

“Calm is my soul, and clear,

like the mountains in the morning.

But they think me cold,

and a mocker with terrible

jests.”

—Also Sprach Zarathustra

By

EZRA BRUDNO

New York

NICHOLAS L. BROWN

1924


Copyright, 1924

By

NICHOLAS L. BROWN

All Rights Reserved

Printed in U. S. A.


PART ONE: A Poet in the Making
ChapterOne:The Heritage
Two:Hedwiga
Three:The Judengasse
Four:A Nightingale in a Crow’s Nest
Five:Hilda
Six:Eugenie
PART TWO: A Fighter in the Making
ChapterOne:The Salon
Two:Miriam
Three:The March to Calvary
Four:Vagabondage
PART THREE: A Cynic in the Making
ChapterOne:A Happy Exile
Two:Marguerite
Three:The Jest of the Gods

AUTHOR’S NOTE.

In creating Albert Zorn, the central figure in this romance, I have followed the life and career of Heinrich Heine. I have chosen him not only because he singularly typifies the poet with the “Weltschmerz” in his heart, nor because his was an arresting personality, but because he is preeminently the symbol of the spirit of his age and his people—the symbol of the spirit of all ages and all peoples. For, whenever and wherever a Samson arises, the smug, hypocritical, pharasaical Philistines are ever ready to fetter him and put out his eyes—and often there is a Delilah to betray him.

E. B.


PART ONE

A POET IN THE MAKING