The history of love by Nicole Krauss

History of Love is about the emotions, feelings and beliefs that everyone has about love. This occurs over the course of many decades and it is used to illustrate its changing forms and the way it is impacting different people. To fully understand the main themes; requires carefully examining the way history causes loss, how it creates bonds and what Krauss is telling everyone about these factors. This will be accomplished by analyzing the character Leopold (Leo) Grusky. Together, these elements will highlight the way love and history is interconnected with each other. (Krause)

The way that history causes a loss for Leo, is based upon the events that are occurring at the beginning of World War II. This is when he is in his 20's and is in love with a woman named Alma. They are living in Poland before the Nazi invasion in 1939. The relationship began when he was 10 years old and has continually evolved since this time. Leo professes his unconditional love for Alma. He states that they will always be together and that he will never care for another woman in the same way. However, Alma's father is fearful about what will happen from the changing political events in Europe. He subsequently, sends her to the United States. Prior to leaving, she becomes pregnant (unbeknownst to Leo). Once the Nazi's invade Poland, is when Leo is forced to hide in the woods and forage off of whatever he can for two years. He is able to eventually go to the United States and find Alma. The problem is; he discovers that she has married the manager of the factory she works at and has another child. This is when he realizes he has a son named Isaac. While all of these events are occurring, is when Leo documents his story in the form of book that will be published. He gives it to his childhood friend named Zvi. Zvi publishes it as his own work and Leo falls into a state of depression. As he watches his son from a distance and tries to convince Zvi to give him credit for helping to create the original manuscript. In this aspect, history is causing a loss through Alma, his son and the book he had completed. A good example of this can be seen in the passage which says, "She gave him a photograph of a boy who was now five. She said you stopped writing. I thought you were dead. He looked at the photograph of the boy who would grow up to look like him, who, although the man didn't know it would go to college, fall in love, out of love and become a famous writer." (Krause) This is illustrating some of the losses that Leo is seeing with Alma and his son.

The way that love creates bonds for Leo is through observing his son from a distance and seeing him develop over the years. This occurs after Alma dies and he watches him become a famous writer. At the same time, Leo wants to receive the credit for writing a novel that was published. These events are showing how love creates a bond for him through seeing his son grow up. He also is feeling love about the story he created and wanting to be recognized for his contribution. (Krause)