For six decades and counting, Peter S. Beagle has written fantasy literature with a Jewish-American sensibility. An overview of his career on the occasion of his 80th birthday. Read the full essay at the Jewish Review of Books.
Tag: Judaism
Why Naomi Novik’s Spinning Silver is Bad Jewish Fantasy
Sure, all this beats a pogrom. But given that Novik clearly intends the book to work as a commentary on the situation of Jews in the Eastern European past, the result is an unconvincing muddle. Read the column at the Jewish Review of Books.
The First-Ever Anthology of Israeli Science Fiction and Fantasy
And how it compares with a Jewish American anthology. Read the full review at Mosaic.
How American Jews Came to Believe That Tikkun Olam Was at the Core of Their Tradition
Tikkun Olam's easy path to enshrinement as the Jewish truth has depended on the widespread ignorance among millions of Jews of the most basic texts and ideas of their religious tradition. Read the full essay at Mosaic.
Shmatte Business
Why are Jewish children's books so bad? Anyone seeking a perfect metaphor for the limitations of Jewish children’s literature will find one in the fact that PJ Library makes available not one or even two but three different books based on the Yiddish song, Hob ikh mir a mantl (“I have a little coat”). Read the … Continue reading Shmatte Business