Robert Nathan Readthrough: The Orchid (1931)

The Orchid is not one of Robert Nathan’s fantastical novels, though it is another of his ironic moral entertainments. Set in Nathan’s fairytale-like New York City, its two main themes have been seen in several of his earlier novels: marriage and art. Rather than presenting these as binary opposites in a simple choice between commitment … Continue reading Robert Nathan Readthrough: The Orchid (1931)

The Alchemist

Readers of Commentary magazine in the 1950s were treated to a series of finely observed vignettes about life in Israel, written by an American Jew who had emigrated (so an editor’s note informs us) to the young Jewish state. The author published half a dozen columns in the magazine, portraying a gallery of Israel’s immigrants, … Continue reading The Alchemist