Rodinsky's world was that of the East European Jewry, cabbalistic speculation, an obsession with language as code and terrible loss. He touched the imagination of artist Rachel Lichtenstein, whose grandparents had left Poland in the 1930s. This text weaves together Lichtenstein's quest for Rodinsky - which took her to Poland, to Israel and around Jewish London - with Iain Sinclair's meditations on her journey into her own past and on the Whitechapel he has reinvented in his own writing. Rodinsky's Room is a testament to a world that has all but vanished, a homage to a unique culture and way of life.
About the Author
Iain Sinclair is the author of White Chapell, Scarlet Tracings; Lights Out for the Territory; Lud Heat; Rodinsky's Room (with Rachel Lichtenstein); and Radon Daughters, all available from Granta Books. Born in Wales, he now lives in Hackney, East London. Rachel Lichtenstein is an artist, archivist and writer who lives and works in east London. She is also a tour guide and gives lectures on the Jewish East End. She is also the author of Rodinsky's Whitechapel and On Brick Lane.