10 Sep
Latest

Book Q&A: Writing on Philip Roth

Claudia Roth Pierpont is the author of the forthcoming Roth Unbound: A Writer and His Books, a study of the novelist Philip Roth, who is no relation. A longtime staff writer for The New Yorker, she also is the author of Passionate Minds: Women Rewriting the World, a collection of essays. She lives in New York City. Q: Why did you decide to write about Philip Roth? A: The simple answer is that I think he’s a great writer, one of the greatest novelists of the century. I was working on a collection of pieces about American figures that was published in The New Yorker. I wanted it to end with him. I met him, and he was accommodating and easy to talk to; I thought, This is the chance of a lifetime! It seemed like an opportunity I’d be mad to pass up....

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16 Mar
Arts & Culture, Latest

Laish by Aharon Appelfeld

By Jeremy Gillick The release last week of Laish, Aharon Appelfeld's latest book to be translated into English, provided an excellent excuse to celebrate the Israeli author's long and prolific career. Originally published in Hebrew in 1994, the novel follows a band of mainly elderly, eastern European Jews, flawed but faithful, on their seemingly hopeless pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Narrated through the eyes of Laish, a teenager, it is a believable story, sad and even romantic, that is entirely symbolic. If it is not Appelfeld's best work, it is nonetheless an important contribution, and as Naomi Sokoloff wrote in the Forward, it goes a long way towards illuminating his life and trajectory as an author. Here's how William Giraldi, in an excellent review at bookforum.com, sums up the 77-year old Appelfeld's career: "In his growing body of fiction—a...

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17 Oct
Latest

This Week's Links

Stop bitching and pick up a knife. Activists, upset with the kosher meat industry, have taken matters into their own hands. A profile of Jewish rapper Kosha Dillz. Alan M. Dershowitz is endorsing Obama for President. A US soldier was beat up. That soldier was Jewish. Is there a connection? "What does make this an unusual election is that the Democratic candidate is largely unknown to the Jewish community. It’s relatively rare that that happens." An interview with Jonathon Sarna on the election. Craving some unnecessarily bloody violence? Be patient. Quentin Tarantino started filming his Brad Pitt flick about killing a bunch of Nazis. As long as Philip Roth keeps hating on Swedes, he'll never win a Nobel Prize. Who wins in a fight: Sarah Silverman or Jackie Mason? They're battling over the election. I'll...

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