Literature

The question of whether or not your writing is Jewish is not up to you, because writing ultimately belongs to the reader. Krauss’ avatar answers Ozick perfectly: “Jewish literature would have to wait, as all Jewish things wait for a perfection that in our hearts we don’t really want to come.” In the end, perhaps all we can do is kvetch and vacillate between different answers to the question of what is Jewish literature—because, of course, the answer was never the point.

In a continuing series on great, modern Israeli thinkers, Joe Wolfson explores the powerful themes in a novel by Rav Haim Sabato.

Ari Hoffman explores the expansive visions of Jewish peoplehood embedded in two major, recently published novels

Malka Simkovich hunts for Jewish texts in some unlikely places.

Shalva Muschel offers some perspective on George Elliot's leading Jews and the newest attempt to gain a fuller appreciation of Daniel Deronda.

Jewishness, antisemitism, popular culture and Russian television in the postwar era? Historian Maya Balakirsky Katz explains.

Yaakov Jaffe analyzes and compares the "Song of the Sea" and the "Rime of the Ancient Mariner."

Lawrence Kaplan responds to Eli Putterman's essay on Reish Laqish and sexuality.

What do Adam, Enkidu, and Reish Lakish all have in common? Eli Putterman explores.

Author Risa Miller reviews Beth Kissileff's debut novel, Questioning Return.