When we assemble the major motifs found in [Agnon's early] Yiddish poems, we are struck by the similarity between them and the major motifs of Agnon's mature works: the struggle with the devil; violent deaths; the failure of religious ritual to inspire the worshiper; the pervasive sensation of decay in the buildings as opposed to the vitality of the natural world outside; the self-consciousness of the creative artist; the love poems; the deep concern with the destiny of the Jewish people. The inescapable fact is that the kernel of much of Agnon's thematic preoccupation is found in these Yiddish poems. (p. 35)

Not all young Agnon's attempts at prose narrative were successful. At times the didactic message is too obvious, and at times the end of the sketch is painfully artificial. And yet, he already knew how to vary his narrative technique, at times with a "philosophic" preface …, at...