For every two Jews, said David Ben Gurion, the first prime minister of Israel, three opinions exist, and maybe when we’re talking about literary works, the number of viewpoints would be five or six. Jewcy is out with The 50 Most Essential Works of Jewish Fiction of the Last 100 years, as compiled by the […]
Read MorePhilip Roth’s new novel: A do-it-yourself ‘Nemesis,’ plus a few thoughts on Roth vs. e-books
Philip Roth was an evil literary influence on me. I don’t write like him, but love his sarcasm, irony and well-crafted dispatches from the battles of the sexes, the very stuff that unsettles Leah Hager Cohen, author of a favorable New York Times review of Nemesis, Roth’s latest novel. Ms. Cohen until recently despised Roth’s […]
Read More‘Indignation,’ by Philip Roth: A belated review
Although verbose in places, Indignation is witty and engrossing with wonderful caricatures. I spent time in Northern Ohio eons ago, not that far from some of Sherwood Anderson‘s old haunts, and I enjoyed Philip Roth‘s depictions of the mythical Winesburg College. Roth lives up to his reputation with hilarious attacks on both Jewish moralists and […]
Read MoreFrom Philip Roth to Agatha Christie and Arthur Clarke: BBC’s treasure trove of audio interviews
Here’s some inspiration for me or other writers aiming for radio exposure. I can’t recall where I ran across it—a Twitter tweet?—but I’ve discovered a treasure trove of author audios at the BBC site. A 1937 recording of George Bernard Shaw is among them.
Read MoreScandals as a Northern Virginia Jewish novel
Jonathan Stone as an Afro-American? Because Jewish protagonists are such old hat? So suggested a buddy of mine—not an anti-semite or self-hating Jewish, but an intelligent man of the observant, practicing variety. May I respectfully disagree? In fact, The Solomon Scandals in some respects is as much a Northern Virginia Jewish novel as a newspaper […]
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