I Pity the Poor Immigrant by Zachary Lazar

[Burning Books]

The latest Burning Books episode has just been released.

This wonderful series is produced by Litopia and hosted by Eric Beck Rubin. Always entertaining, it's a great way to enlarge your knowledge of classic writing, both ancient and modern.

You can subscribe to the show through iTunes or any other podcast app, which will ensure you never miss an episode.

Feel free to add your thoughts below.

 

[Katie-Ellen]

My knowledge is definitely enlarged, though I'm not going to go out and buy that book. And book promotion is not the purpose, so the purpose is educative?

And it has an archaic feel, as presented by the magnificently measured and lucid Eric Beck Rubin, and yet is absolutely topical. The tragic, brutal irony of the founding of modern Israel. Also reviewed in The New York Times

Title is from a Bob Dylan song. He leave me cold. I no likee heeem. Cohen's mightier and not an asshole.

Lyrics
I pity the poor immigrant
Who wishes he would've stayed home
Who uses all his power to do evil
But in the end is always left so alone
That man whom with his fingers cheats
And who lies with every breath
Who passionately hates his life
And likewise, fears his death
I pity the poor immigrant
Whose strength is spent in vain
Whose heaven is like ironsides
Whose tears are like rain
Who eats but is not satisfied
Who hears but does not see
Who falls in love with wealth itself
And turns his back on me
I pity the poor immigrant
Who tramples through the mud
Who fills his mouth with laughing
And who builds his town with blood
Whose visions in the final end
Must shatter like the glass
I pity the poor immigrant
When his gladness comes to pass