Barzun on intellect

Jacques Barzun has a died at the age of 104. Over at Literary Commentary , I have written a short obituary of a man I greatly admired. Aft...

The Island Within

Originally published by Jewish Ideas Daily in May 2010. Revised and expanded. Ludwig Lewisohn is nearly forgotten today, but in his day he ...

Bread Givers

Originally published by Jewish Ideas Daily in May 2010. Revised and expanded. Books for women have been a distinct and popular variety of J...

The Fugitive

Originally published by Jewish Ideas Daily in May 2010. Revised and expanded. Popular Jewish fiction in America began to absorb other Jewis...

Other Things Being Equal

Originally published by Jewish Ideas Daily in May 2010. Revised and expanded. When was American Jewish fiction born? The credit usually goe...

The Rise of David Levinsky

Originally published by Jewish Ideas Daily in May 2010. Revised and expanded. In American literature, Leslie Fiedler once quipped, nothing ...

On being irradiated

Yesterday I started my second round of cancer radiation—a “palliative” treatment, in this case, to relieve the pain in my right hip. Zell Mi...