• About
  • Support AJW
  • Jewish Community Directory
  • Subscription Information
  • Contact Us
American Jewish World
No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • All
    • Africa
    • Asia
    • Australia & New Zealand
    • Europe
    • Israel/Mideast
    • Latin America
    • Minnesota
    • US & Canada
    Kids, enter the AJW Hanuka Cover Contest!

    Kids, enter the AJW Hanuka Cover Contest!

    One of Minnesota’s most accomplished  women, Geri Joseph, dies at 100

    One of Minnesota’s most accomplished women, Geri Joseph, dies at 100

    Editorial: A visit to Denmark and Sweden — and war breaks out

    Editorial: A visit to Denmark and Sweden — and war breaks out

  • Arts
    • All
    • Blue Box
    • Books & Literature
    • Music
    • Televison & Film
    • Theater & Performing Arts
    • Visual Arts
    I.B. Singer’s American essays

    I.B. Singer’s American essays

    When Israel was attacked 50 years ago

    When Israel was attacked 50 years ago

    Les Block, our music maven

    Les Block, our music maven

  • Lifestyle
    • All
    • Fashion
    • Food
    • Health & Wellness
    • Home & Garden
    • Travel & Culture
    Tracing family roots in Germany

    Tracing family roots in Germany

    Kids, enter the AJW Hanuka Cover Contest!

    Kids, enter the AJW Hanuka Cover Contest!

    Robyn Frank finds her niche in the cookie business

    Robyn Frank finds her niche in the cookie business

  • Editorial
  • Opinion
  • AJW Digital Archives
  • News
    • All
    • Africa
    • Asia
    • Australia & New Zealand
    • Europe
    • Israel/Mideast
    • Latin America
    • Minnesota
    • US & Canada
    Kids, enter the AJW Hanuka Cover Contest!

    Kids, enter the AJW Hanuka Cover Contest!

    One of Minnesota’s most accomplished  women, Geri Joseph, dies at 100

    One of Minnesota’s most accomplished women, Geri Joseph, dies at 100

    Editorial: A visit to Denmark and Sweden — and war breaks out

    Editorial: A visit to Denmark and Sweden — and war breaks out

  • Arts
    • All
    • Blue Box
    • Books & Literature
    • Music
    • Televison & Film
    • Theater & Performing Arts
    • Visual Arts
    I.B. Singer’s American essays

    I.B. Singer’s American essays

    When Israel was attacked 50 years ago

    When Israel was attacked 50 years ago

    Les Block, our music maven

    Les Block, our music maven

  • Lifestyle
    • All
    • Fashion
    • Food
    • Health & Wellness
    • Home & Garden
    • Travel & Culture
    Tracing family roots in Germany

    Tracing family roots in Germany

    Kids, enter the AJW Hanuka Cover Contest!

    Kids, enter the AJW Hanuka Cover Contest!

    Robyn Frank finds her niche in the cookie business

    Robyn Frank finds her niche in the cookie business

  • Editorial
  • Opinion
  • AJW Digital Archives
No Result
View All Result
Morning News
No Result
View All Result
Home Arts

Englander’s Jewish stories

‘What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank’, by Nathan Englander, Knopf, 224 pages, $24.95.

American Jewish World by American Jewish World
May 23, 2020
in Arts, Books & Literature
0
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Reviewed by NEAL GENDLER

Nathan Englander continues to go from strength to strength, packing new proof of his distinctive talent into this slender package of eight short stories.

READ ALSO

I.B. Singer’s American essays

When Israel was attacked 50 years ago

Englander burst to stardom in 1999, with a short-story collection, For the Relief of Unbearable Urges. The title story, about an Orthodox man who seeks rabbinical approval to go to a prostitute because his wife denies him sex, has an ending worthy of O. Henry, famed since the first decade of the last century for witty short stories with a twist at the end.

The stories in What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank are equally unusual and sprinkled with humor, irony, absurdity and surprises. Englander, who was raised Orthodox and became secular while living in Jerusalem, either sees people, life and the world rather differently than do the rest of us, or he sees more deeply — often darkly — and finds unusual ways of communicating his vision.

Nathan Englander (Photo: Juliana Sohn)

Seven of these stories are very Jewish, but Englander-ishly offbeat. The title piece features a pot-smoking frum (devout) couple (how else to cope with 10 daughters in tight Israeli quarters?) visiting the wife’s now-secular best friend from their years in a girls’ yeshiva. The couples discuss where to hide and who might hide them from a Shoah-like persecution.

The secular husband describes the religious pair as going from Orthodox to ultra-Orthodox, which he says “sounds like a repackaged detergent — Orthodox Ultra, now with more deep-healing power.”

Another story, “Camp Sundown,” has youngsters on one side of a lake and an elderhostel of kvetching geriatrics on the other. Eight of the oldsters are convinced that a man who comes to play bridge is a former concentration-camp guard. The harried director, Josh, observes that “every summer, the old people grow smaller as the children grow big.” He “has decided that there is only so much height in the world, and the inches must change hands.”

Long and engrossing, “Sister Hills” tells of an Israeli woman living primitively on a Samaria hilltop who becomes widowed by the 1973 war. The infant daughter of her only neighbor, on the other hilltop, falls deathly ill. The mother believes she’s to blame because of some sin and, following a superstition, sells the girl to the widow, who renames her.

Bits of Israeli history, Israeli stubbornness and Jewish argumentation combine with compassion for the widow, and for the mother and child who become victims of the widow’s logic.

In another tale, a group of boys learns self-defense moves from a Russian immigrant but still must turn to a reluctant young man who’s the “biggest Jew in town” and “the toughest Jew we knew” to defend them against an anti-Semitic bully.

These are no conventional stories, and some have unconventional structures, requiring a page or two to catch on. One is a personal and family history told in numbered paragraphs. A story about a once-famous writer emphasizes his present irrelevance by identifying him only as “Author,” without an article. For example, “The woman is talking to Author.” In some stories, it’s occasionally difficult to discern who’s talking or acting; Englander might help his readers by showing a bit more concern about antecedents.

Although one needn’t be Jewish to enjoy Englander’s stories, most have rhythms or references almost implicitly understood by Jews. A smattering of Hebrew words — most of them familiar — happily lack the interrupting distraction of translation.

Englander’s stories contain many questions of identity — individual identity, family identity, group identity and Jewish identity, including Jewish observance or lack of it.

Are these stories Englander’s way of dealing with his own identity problems, or just one fairly well-adjusted, even brilliant, writer’s thoughts about life? Either way, we can applaud his rare combination of observation, imagination and skill.

***

Neal Gendler is a Minneapolis writer and editor.

(American Jewish World, 5.11.12)

Related Posts

I.B. Singer’s American essays
Books & Literature

I.B. Singer’s American essays

December 3, 2023
When Israel was attacked 50 years ago
Books & Literature

When Israel was attacked 50 years ago

November 9, 2023
Les Block, our music maven
Minnesota

Les Block, our music maven

August 8, 2023
Journey to the old land of woe
Books & Literature

Journey to the old land of woe

August 7, 2023
Jews bring the funny to the Fringe
Theater & Performing Arts

Jews bring the funny to the Fringe

August 7, 2023
Repressing memories of a week in 1970
Books & Literature

Repressing memories of a week in 1970

July 23, 2023
Next Post

Back to the Dakota stage

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

RECENT ARTICLES

I.B. Singer’s American essays

I.B. Singer’s American essays

December 3, 2023
Tracing family roots in Germany

Tracing family roots in Germany

December 3, 2023
Two op-eds display a widening schism over Israel

Two op-eds display a widening schism over Israel

December 3, 2023
Kids, enter the AJW Hanuka Cover Contest!

Kids, enter the AJW Hanuka Cover Contest!

November 10, 2023
When Israel was attacked 50 years ago

When Israel was attacked 50 years ago

November 9, 2023

About

Since 1912 the AJW has served as an important news resource for the Jewish community. The Jewish World unites the main Jewish communities in St. Paul and Minneapolis, as well as those in Duluth, Rochester and smaller cities, and bridges the divides between the various Jewish religious streams.

Quick Links

  • About the AJW
  • Advertising Information
  • Submission Guidelines
  • Subscription Information
  • Jewish Community Directory

Contact Us

The American Jewish World
3249 Hennepin Ave., Suite 245
Minneapolis, MN 55408

Tel: 612.824.0030 / Fax: 612.823.0753
editor@ajwnews.com

  • Buy JNews
  • Landing Page
  • Documentation
  • Support Forum

© 2023 JNews - Premium WordPress news & magazine theme by Jegtheme.

No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
  • News
  • Food
  • Health & Wellness
  • Lifestyle
  • Opinion

© 2023 JNews - Premium WordPress news & magazine theme by Jegtheme.