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Jewish Literary Links for Shabbat

by on Friday, October 14, 2011 (0) Comments

  • As I’ve already mentioned on my other blog, I hope that by the time The New York Review of Books publishes the second part of “A Jewish Writer in America,” which reflects a talk originally given by Saul Bellow in 1988, I’ll have been able to digest fully part one.
  • On the occasion of the release of MetaMaus, Art Spiegelman’s combination book/DVD about the creation of his famous Maus, Ruth Franklin writes: “What MetaMaus makes clear is that Maus, like the works of W.G. Sebald, exists somewhere outside of the genres as they are normally defined: We might call it ‘testimonially based Holocaust representation.’ But no matter what it is called, it gives the lie to the critics of Holocaust literature (as well as certain writers of it) who have insisted that either everything must be true or nothing is true.”
  • From The Literary Saloon’s M.A. Orthofer: “It’s always fun when literature and politics get mixed up, and Giulio Meotti’s wacky op-ed at Ynet, wondering: ‘Why do most of Israel’s prominent writers go easy on Jewish State’s enemies ?’ — which apparently amounts to Israel’s literary tragedy — is a fine example.” I agree with Orthofer that the argument isn’t handled well. But I’m less “indifferent” to that argument than he is.
  • New exhibit at the Yiddish Book Center in western Massachusetts: Isaac Bashevis Singer and his Artists. Runs October 16, 2011-February 15, 2012.
  • Andrew Silow-Carroll highlights an amusing anecdote related in Dwight Garner’s review of the new memoir by author Bruce Jay Friedman.

    • Shabbat shalom!

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    Jewish Literary Links for Shabbat

    by on Friday, October 07, 2011 (0) Comments

  • Library Journal looks forward to the April 2012 publication of Shalom Auslander’s Hope: A Tragedy, calling it “ripe for attention.”
  • Fascinating obituary of British Jewish poet Emanuel Litvinoff (1915-2011).
  • In The Jewish Journal, Jonathan Kirsch writes: “Now and then…we are offered a reading experience that reminds us of the gold standard in literature, and one such book is “Alibis: Essays on Elsewhere” by André Aciman (Farrar Straus and Giroux: $25).”
  • It is nearly impossible to keep up with all of the excellent press that Anna Solomon’s The Little Bride is receiving (brava, Anna!). But one of my favorite items from the past few weeks is Anna’s blog post for the Wordstock Festival in Portland, Ore. (where she’ll be appearing on Sunday, October 9). The post is titled “Becoming an American” and, well, let’s just say that certain elements really resonate for this granddaughter of Jewish immigrants who has also spent quite a bit of time among New Englanders.
  • Mazel tov to the winners of The Whole Megillah Picture Book Manuscript Contest!
  • Speaking of contest winners, it looks as though the latest Moment Magazine-Karma Foundation Short Fiction Contest winners will be honored in New York on Monday evening. The ceremony is free, though registration is required.

    • Shabbat shalom, and an easy fast to you all as well.

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    Jewish Literary Links for Shabbat

    by on Friday, September 23, 2011 (0) Comments

  • Ruth Franklin, on “Élisabeth Gille’s Devastating Account of Her Mother, Irène Némirovsky.”
  • Commentary‘s archive is going to the University of Texas. Says The New York Times: “The archive, which spans 1945 to 1995, includes letters by and to Bernard Malamud, Norman Mailer, Amos Oz, Elie Wiesel and Isaac Bashevis Singer, as well as the revisions of essays written for the magazine by George Orwell, Pearl S. Buck and Jean-Paul Sartre.”
  • Just in time for Rosh Hashanah: a new issue of JewishFiction.net, featuring, in the editor’s words, “thirteen beautiful, moving, and thought-provoking stories (originally written in Yiddish, Hebrew, or English) that touch in various ways on the themes of faith, spiritual searching, and/or religious observance.”
  • Love this comprehensive discussion of André Aciman’s new book on Tablet.
  • Randy Susan Meyers, whose novel, The Murderer’s Daughters, I’m reading right now, is one of the fiction writers featured in the latest issue of 614, an ezine from the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute.
  • Looking forward to reading through the latest (September-October) issues of the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL)”News” and “Reviews” publications.

    • Shabbat shalom!

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    Jewish Literary Links for Shabbat

    by on Friday, September 16, 2011 (0) Comments

  • The September Jewish Book Carnival has gone live. This month’s host, forwordsbooks, has done an amazing job collecting the links to Jewish book news, reviews, and interviews.
  • Mazel tov to the winners of the first annual Yiddish Book Center Translation Grant competition.
  • Lisa Silverman spotlights new holiday books for children (and a few for adults).
  • A new monument honors Isaac Babel in Babel’s native Odessa.
  • I was very sorry to miss a literary conversation between Lucette Lagnado and André Aciman here in New York, so I’m most grateful for this summary in The Jewish Week: “Egypt: Fondly Remembered, Currently Feared.” Both authors’ new books are on my tbr list.
  • Josh Lambert summarizes two years “On the Bookshelf.”

    • Shabbat shalom!

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    Jewish Literary Links for Shabbat

    by on Thursday, September 08, 2011 (3) Comments

    OK, Shabbat is still a day away, but I’m going to be offline for awhile (click here for an explanation), so I wanted to post this today.

    Shabbat shalom, everyone. See you next week.

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