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Words of the Week: Howard Jacobson

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled

‘If the Israeli military attacks us, it will be as if they attacked the mailman,’ [Alice Walker] says. Wrong on a thousand counts. As a writer, Alice Walker must understand the symbolic significance of words. The cargo is a cargo of intention. It is freighted with political sympathy and attitude. It means to blunder into where it isn’t safe, clothed in the make-believe garments of the unworldly, speaking of children and speaking like children, half inviting a violence which can then be presented as a slaughter of the innocents.

Even before the deed, Alice Walker has her language of outraged moral purity prepared — “but if they insist on attacking us, wounding us, even murdering us…” The Israeli response is thus already an act of unprovoked murder, no matter that the flotilla is by its very essence a provocation. Whatever its cargo, by luring the Israeli military into action which can be represented as brutal, the flotilla is engaged in an entirely political act. To call it by any other name is the grossest hypocrisy.

Thank you, Howard Jacobson.

Notes from Around the Web: Literary Links for Shabbat

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled
  • Mazel Tov to Austin Ratner, who has won the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature in fiction for his debut novel, The Jump Artist (Bellevue Literary Press), and to Joseph Skibell, who is the runner-up and recipient of of the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature Choice Award. His award-winning novel is A Curable Romantic (Algonquin). Two more books on my to-read list.
  • Make that three. After reading Sandee Brawarsky’s review, I’m putting Sharon Pomerantz’s Rich Boy atop the list.
  • “With new Jewish-themed television programs, critically acclaimed Jewish fiction, experimental electro-klezmer bands and Jewish-Muslim theater groups, British Jews are producing obviously Jewish-inflected artworks in increasingly vibrant and creative ways, which often become part of the mainstream culture,” writes Rebecca Schischa, for The Jewish Week.
  • Adam Kirsch reviews the newly-available translation (by Tim Wilkinson) of Imre Kertesz’s Fiasco.
  • For his part, Jonathan Kirsch reviews and recommends a new novel by Alan Cheuse, Song of Slaves in the Desert, which features a character “who stands in for the 3 to 5 percent of American slaveholders in the antebellum South who were Jewish.”
  • Job alert: “New Voices and JSPS [the Jewish Student Press Service] are seeking a full-time Editor in Chief/Executive Director. New Voices is the only national, independent magazine written for and by Jewish college students. Published by the Jewish Student Press Service (est. 1971), New Voices and newvoices.org cover Jewish issues from a student perspective. JSPS also runs the annual National Jewish Student Journalism conference, now in its 40th year.”
  • Another job alert, this time from the Jewish Federation of Broward County, Fla., which is seeking a part-time PJ Library Community Coordinator.

    • Notes from Around the Web: Literary Links for Shabbat

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled

    Some goodies for you:

  • The Jewish Week‘s Spring Arts Preview lets us know about new books from Melissa Fay Greene, David Bezmozgis, and many others.
  • Just what is a “Jewish book,” anyway?
  • How did it take me this long to learn that Jeffrey Goldberg is on Twitter?
  • Natasha Solomons, author of Mr. Rosenblum Dreams in English, describes an especially meaningful book-group visit.
  • Excellent, insightful review of David Grossman’s To the End of the Land (trans. Jessica Cohen) by the Boston Bibliophile.
  • As the winter blog tour for my new story collection, Quiet Americans, nears its end, time’s running out to enter our Goodreads & Facebook giveaways! Hurry up and enter, and maybe you’ll be one of the lucky winners to receive a copy!
  • And speaking of Quiet Americans, todah rabah to Elissa Strauss for including it in her latest new-books column on The Forward’s Sisterhood blog.

    • Shabbat shalom!

    Notes from Around the Web

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled
  • Adam Kirsch reviews poet Rachel Wetzsteon’s posthumous book, Silver Roses.
  • The Boston Bibliophile reviews Howard Jacobson’s prize-winning novel, The Finkler Question.
  • The Jewish Week reminds me that I have got to get to the Hannah Senesh exhibition at the Museum of Jewish Heritage sooner rather than later.
  • One take on highlights in Jewish books for 2010, courtesy of Jewish Ideas Daily.
  • Uri Friedman examines the dilemma observant Jews face concerning reading on the Sabbath in a digital age.
  • My recent review of a new anthology of Jewish-American fiction has prompted some kind comments, one on the Jewish Journal’s website, and some I’ve received privately. Which I’ve found reassuring, because I suspected that not everyone would like what I had to say.

    • Shabbat shalom!

    December Jewish Book Carnival

    by Erika Dreifus on
    12

    As the blogger behind My Machberet, I am delighted to welcome you to the December home for the Jewish Book Carnival. Launched by Heidi Estrin and Marie Cloutier, the Carnival is a monthly event where bloggers who blog about Jewish books can meet, read, and comment on each others’ posts. The co-creators established it to build community among bloggers and blogs who feature Jewish books. The Carnival is headquartered on the Association of Jewish Libraries blog, and it runs every month on the 15th.

    Without further ado, I am proud to present the December Carnival:

    • Children’s author Sylvia Rouss shares the “Hanukkah Origins of Sammy Spider.”
    • From Jewesses with Attitude, a blog from the Jewish Women’s Archive: Renee Ghert-Zand writes about The Bookseller’s Sonnets, Andi L. Rosenthal’s debut novel.
    • JewishBoston.com sends along two posts: one, “Becoming Thankful for Jewish Book Month,” which focuses on Linda R. Silver’s Best Jewish Books for Children and Teens, and another, by David Levy, advocating that we “Give Comics for Chanukah” and featuring short reviews of recently published Jewish-themed comics.
    • On her Jewish Muse blog, Linda K. Wertheimer describes the books that created her first Jewish community–and tells us about a more recent read: Naomi Ragen’s latest novel, The Tenth Song.
    • On his 12:12 blog, Jewish Journal Books Editor Jonathan Kirsch reviews Ruth Franklin’s A Thousand Darknesses: Lies and Truth in Holocaust Fiction.
    • Margo Tanenbaum shares eight favorite Chanukah reads on The Fourth Musketeer.
    • The Association of Jewish Libraries recently celebrated its first-ever Library Snapshot Day, and captured the occasion on the People of the Book blog (with video!).
    • Heidi Estrin’s Book of Life blog/podcast series introduces “Shalom Sesame.”
    • On The Whole Megillah, Barbara Krasner reviews The Hanukkah Trike, written by Michelle Edwards and illustrated by Kathryn Mitter.
    • In a guest post for the Jewish Book Council blog, author Avi Steinberg (Running the Books: The Adventures of an Accidental Prison Librarian) describes some Kafkaesque experiences. Also on the JBC blog: an invitation for readers to meet up on Twitter on January 12 to discuss Elizabeth Rosner’s novel, Blue Nude.
    • Ilana-Davita writes about a recent read: Mitzvah Girls: Bringing Up the Next Generation of Hasidic Jews in Brooklyn, by Ayala Fader.
    • Jew Wishes reviews Stronger Than Iron: The Destruction of Vilna Jewry 1941-1945: An Eyewitness Account, by Mendel Balberyszski.
    • And last, but perhaps not least: please enjoy my enthusiastic take on Mr. Rosenblum Dreams in English, a novel by U.K. author Natasha Solomons.