Jewish demons have always pursued Philip Roth. Starting with the 1959 publication of \”Goodbye, Columbus,\” his iconoclastic and now classic portrait of materialistic Jewish suburbanites, Roth has dramatized his characters\’ struggle to reconcile their eternally warring urges to simultaneously lay claim to and distance themselves from (even sometimes flat-out reject) their Jewish heritage.
In Philip Roth\’s new novel, \”The Human Stain,\” a classics professor at a small New England college creates a fictional identity for himself.
In her talk, which ran more than an hour, Deborah Lipstadt reflected on her almost five-year ordeal, which began when Irving sued her and her publisher, Penguin Books, for libel in a British court.
Don\’t let the unfunny introduction to \”Haikus for Jews\” (Harmony Books, $11) fool you.
Retired bookseller Leo Bretholz, a Holocaust survivor, can hand you his own death notice.
Ruzena Berler first began to write about her experiences in the late 1940s, to exorcise her recurring nightmares about the war.
Joshua Hammer\’s book is called \”Chosen by God: A Brother\’s Journey\” (Hyperion Press), and while the titular journey refers to his brother, it may very well apply to Hammer himself.\nIn Newsweek\’s Nov. 8th issue, Hammer — a foreign correspondent who will become the magazine\’s Berlin bureau chief in January — gave the nation a window into his life. In an excerpt from \”Chosen\” Hammer recounted his quest to reconnect with Tony, his estranged younger brother. During their time apart, while Hammer had traveled the world covering war and political unrest, Tony had become Tuvia, a \”Torah Jew\” with a wife and sprawling family, entrenched in an ultra-Orthodox lifestyle
When the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles celebrated the launch of its anti-illiteracy program KOREH Los Angeles in September, the focus was on educators and celebrities to read children\’s books to kids. Meanwhile, on the outskirts of the spotlight at that event were some local women who are equally vital in the campaign against illiteracy: the creators of the children\’s books themselves.
Still, it seems, Elie Wiesel is uneasy in his dual roles of inward-looking writer and public activist. He acknowledges a certain degree of self-censorship, particularly in writing about his confrontations with leaders in Israel, American Jewish spokesmen and certain Holocaust scholars.
Anyone seeking explanations for a given period or event related to Moses need simply look to this well-organized volume.
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