Reviews
Poems Don't Fall from the Sky
Peter Petschauer showcases a keen eye, an ear to the ground, an open heart, and the precise language to forge one memorable poem after another. His brand-new collection continues that stellar tradition. These poems often serve as cautionary tales – poems precisely for this moment in history: crucial, harrowing, unforgettable.
- Joseph Bathanti, North Carolina Poet Laureate (2012-2014) & author of Steady Daylight
This is the best of your books. ... The nature observations give it more of a spring-like atmosphere, and there's even a touch of ribaldry that made me laugh. ..Yes, the somberness of the previous material is there, but it is the product of healing more than grieving, and it is refreshing to both the reader and the writer.
- Zohara Boyd, Professor Emerita, Appalachian State University
Another book of poetry by the talented Peter Petschauer is a treat which I hope many others will enjoy.
- Dr. Paul Elovitz, Senior Editor of Clio's Psyche
Peter Petschauer's magical way of talking about war and death, about pain and loss and containing them into the beauty of nature and life. I felt nostalgic, but also full of gratitude for being able to feel painful experiences without being destroyed by their emotionality.
- Gabriela Gusita, Psychologist-Psychotherapist, Licensed WISC-V,
Weaving the process of critique into the book of poetry at this level is like a wonderful dance where one asks for a move and the other responds. It shows respect, genuine caring and friendship, and artistry all in a few pages.
- Amy Hudnall, a faculty member at Appalachian State University, assistant director of the Center for Judaic, Holocaust and Peace Studies
Peter Petschauer's poems address the Big Question: Where does a poem come from—like a team of surveyors attempt to make sense of a moment or point in space by looking from many perspectives.... that intersection of "what you see" and "what you come to see," from all these observations and inspirations—and more.
- Dr. Howard Stein, High Plains Society for Applied Anthropology; Psychohistorical Poet Laureate
In the Face of Evil
Professor David Beisel's review of In the Face of Evil in Clio's Psyche, Vol. 21, Number 4 (March 2015): 473-76.
Clio's Psyche is a refereed journal.
Beisel writes that, "Anyone who knows Professor Petschauer's scholarship is aware how scrupulous he is with regard to the historical and cultural context of words. This study is no exception. The narrative regularly pauses for the insertion of unique words, provides a phrase or two on what they mean in historical and ethnographic context, and shows how many untranslatable meanings mold individual and group perceptions. It provides elaborate psycholinguistics of historical meaning, another strength of the book."
Wounded Centuries: A Selection of Poems
Ken Fuchsman, “Wounded Centuries,” Psychohistory News; Newsletter of the International Psychohistorical Association, 35, 3 (Summer, 2016): 4.
“One of Peter (Petschauer's) poems in Wounded Centuries is about a Hungarian Jew with his own family’s last name and who had the same occupation as his father, a journalist. He found out about this man searching on the Internet. This Hungarian, Attila Petschauer, who was also a fencer in the 1928 and 1932 Olympics, was “tortured to death by his former comrades in a concentration camp.”
For Peter, the only way to deal with his anguish
was through poetry:
"Attila, how dare you disturb
my peace with your heritage?
A heritage that questions my own?"
I leave this review of a book that is not available, but which shows the sorts of issues I dealt with.
A Perfect Portrait
In her review of A Perfect Portrait in Clio's Psyche (23, 1, Fall 2016: 82) and NYC psychoanalyst and psychohistorian Merle Molofsky wrote:
"In his historical novel, Petschauer uses his deeply attuned, intuitive, psychologically resonant storytelling gift to create for the reader memorable characters in a richly detailed menu, life in 18th century Weimar, Germany. He evokes the specifics of home work, social status, social mores and relationships so that we very well may be walking the streets, frequenting the taverns, or working side-by-side people living in everyday lives. Most importantly, you feel the nuances of the interval in lives and social expectations of women."
Paul Elovitz, psychohistorian and editor of Clio's Psyche emailed in a personal email on April 3rd, 2016:
"Congratulations Peter, I enjoyed your Perfect Portrait, which I finished the day before yesterday. Your ending caught me unawares."
Zohara Boyd, a former colleague at Appalachian State University, wrote in a personal email on June 19th, 2016:
"I have read A Perfect Portrait and enjoyed it thoroughly, though I had hoped you might end it differently. Of course, when I was a kid, I read Tale of Two Cities several times in hopes that ending might somehow change too. The revisions are very good. The dates put everything in its proper time frame and make the flashbacks much clearer. And Johann seems less of a lout, still nowhere near the perfect husband but much more tolerable, snoring and all. I do love the clarity of the language and the real sound of the dialogue. It was a great read at the seashore last month. "
An Immigrant in the 1960s
"Experiencing New York in the 60s, in Manhattan, through Peter’s eyes as he writes about it in an easy to read and incredibly personally revealing and humble autobiography, has been a reminiscent and an eye-opening experience."
Susan Hein, MPS, LP, NCPsyA, psychoanalyst and psychotherapist, professor, historian, author.
"The story of how [Peter] overcame numerous obstacles to gain a Ph.D. and become a professor and an author is engrossing and inspirational. It is also a good humored, well written coming of age story truly in the mold of fairy tales, Horatio Alger's success sagas, and Ben Franklin's autobiography."
Zohara Boyd, a former colleague, professor emerita of English, Appalachian State University.
Was man Alles Lernt
"I fully share your life experiences of education, good and bad authority, and such role models, as well as the sorrow over the perversion of the good teachings of all the great founders of the faith by subsequent zealots, fanatics. The role of women in your upbringing, socialization, value formation has touched me deeply. As you let us see again and again in different forms: they are the bearers - in childbirth as well as in everyday life; they are the ones who suffer – in wars as well as other evolutionary ruptures; they are the permanent workers, watchdogs, guardians; they are the revolutionaries."
Gerhard Waldheim, Email dated 16 April 2023.
"'Language as the Key.' INTERVIEW: PETER PETSCHAUER spent his childhood in Afers during the Second World War. In his latest book, he describes life on the (Egarter) farm at that time and talks about transgenerational trauma."' Anina Vontavon editor in chief of Brixner.
"I find it fascinating to analyze the circumstances in which one is born. How one's own life develops is … decided even before birth without our power to influence it – the world into which you, Anina, were born is very different from the one I was born into."
Brixner, No. 400, p. 43.