Letters/Martin Buber

Culled from the three-volume German edition of his correspondence, these letters trace Martin Buber's (1878-1965) transition from mystically inclined man of letters to teacher of his people who preached a renewed sense of community, a binational Palestinian homeland and a humanistic socialism derived from the Gospels and the Old Testament prophets. Marked by conversational spontaneity, Buber's letters underscore the growing contradiction and ultimate incompatibility of his roles as Zionist and a man very much at home in German culture. Along with playful, tender missives to his wife, Paula Winkler, there are fruitful exchanges with an extraordinary range of luminaries, among them Einstein, Hesse, Schweitzer, Kafka, Herzl, Camus, Chaim Weizmann, S. Y. Agnon, Stefan Zweig and Dag Hammarskjold. This lively selection was edited by Buber's close associate Glatzer, who died in 1990, and Mendes-Flohr, a professor of Jewish thought at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Photos. (Aug.)