Stalked by The Plague, ‘The Maiden of All Our Desires’ Follows a Medieval Abbey at a Time When Monastic Life Was a Refuge for Women
A woman disappears, “taken by wind.” A one-eyed priest frantically carves a feminine-looking crucifix for…
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The Children of Bellow and Roth: New Book of Short Fiction Takes On the Male Jewish Experience
“I’m unbelievably bored writing about Judaism as a journalist,” author Gordon Haber said during a…
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Revisiting Philip Roth’s 2004 Novel that Predicted the Trump Election
It’s difficult to think of a better example of the rigorous, imaginative work that will be necessary to prepare for a Trump presidency.
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Delillo and Doctor Strange: Orientalist Fantasy is Alive and Well
“Open your mind. Change your reality.” These are the twin phrases that flash across the…
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Neal Pollack Has Written a Jewish Basketball Noir Novel
What happens when a culturally Jewish writer learns that Jews once ruled basketball.
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Harry Potter Gone Bad: Lev Grossman’s The Magicians
The characters in this adult, anti-fantasy novel of hope (and magic) lost appear to teach the lesson that Harry Potter probably ended up hating himself, and life, after the end of book seven. But would a less dour novel have been so highly praised?
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The Untold Story of The Greatest Yiddish Poet in America
Peter Manseau’s first novel, Songs for the Butcher’s Daughter, takes on themes of Jewish-Christian enmity, the trials of translation, and the idea of language as a virtual homeland.
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