Philosophy department chair Rosenberg releases popular novel

Despite his love of teaching, Alex Rosenberg, chair of the philosophy department, still finds time to write best-selling books.

Rosenberg’s 14th book, “The Girl from Krakow,” reached Amazon’s top 10 best books of the month list in August. The book is set during World War II and is based off of his mother’s memoirs. “The Girl from Krakow” is his first novel. Rosenberg, R. Taylor Cole Professor of Philosophy, has previously published 13 academic books.

“When I sat down and started thinking ‘I have to write a narrative,’ I realized that the bare bones of my story were already given to me by my mother’s memoir,” he said.

“The Girl from Krakow” is a historical novel set in World War II following the story of the main character, a Jewish woman named Rita Feuerstahl, as she copes with the dangerous conditions of Nazi-occupied Europe. Rosenberg said the story is largely based on the real experiences of five people whom he has known throughout his life, with the main character, Rita, depicting his mother.

Rosenberg explained that some of the inspiration for the novel came from when he and his mother moved to America in the late 1940s and lived in a small town in West Virginia. Rosenberg said that his mother had nothing to do, so she wrote her memoirs in Polish, translating them to English 30 years later. He said he helped edit his mothers memoirs and eventually got them published. He later referred back to them as he prepared to write “The Girl from Krakow.”

“This is a didactic novel masquerading as a thriller—I mean I’ve got an ideology to push and the story is just the vehicle,” Rosenberg said. “But I have to say once I started writing the story, it took over.”

Rosenberg added that writing a novel presented an added challenge compared to what he is used to writing.

“Writing fiction is much harder than writing academically—it’s much harder but more fun,” he said.

Rosenberg also said that his philosophy teachings at Duke are evident in his books. One of the characters in his new book finds meaning and solace in the war in the works of Charles Darwin. Rosenberg teaches a class about human cultures based in Darwinism, in conjunction with the evolutionary anthropology department.

In his 15 years at Duke, Rosenberg has reached many students with his enthusiasm and hands-on approach to teaching. Even though he has written so much, Rosenberg says that he still finds the most pleasure in teaching classes, particularly Philosophy 101.

“I want to corrupt eager young minds as freshmen,” Rosenberg said.

Junior Emma Rose, spoke fondly of her time with Rosenberg during the summer 2015 Duke in Geneva session, which Rosenberg co-directs.

“I learned more from Alex in six weeks than from any other professor in a full semester,” Rose said.

Sophomore Brian Englar agreed, saying that Rosenberg really cares and takes time to help students learn.

“He’s very dedicated to the education of his students and holds their hands through the learning process,” Englar said.