The Reckoning: The Daily Ledgers of Newman Yagodah, Advokat and Factor

December 31, 1943

The year ends with work on a new book: The Abolition of Poverty. Thoughts very confused, intentions honorable, I think. My hope is to make a contribution to the postwar reconstruction such as will be necessary if men of my position are to remain in public respect.

My reasons for doing this are partly idealistic, partly venal as, indeed, they should be. In the summer of 1930 I was making a study of economic conditions in our part of Europe. Returning home in early September, I had to pass through Pest. Seated in the salon dining car with some colleagues aboard the rapid express from Vienna, I was engaged in a conversation about corn and sugar-beet production per quintal of land when there came a lurching, a violent shuddering of wheels and couplings, then brutal stillness. (The Reckoning, p. 3)

Elman is interviewed by Dale Minor about the novel and reads excerpts from the his trilogy, "The 28th Day of Elul, and "Lilo's Diary," here, broadcast on WBAI, October 16,1969. http://audio.pacificaradioarchives.org/m3u.php?mp3fil=2852