Jews with Swords
“The story of the Jews centers around — one might almost say that it stars — the hazards and accidents, the misfortunes and disasters, the feats of inspiration, the travail and despair, and intermittent moments of glory and grace, that entail upon journeys from home and back again. For better or worse it has been one long adventure — a five-thousand-year Odyssey — from the moment of the true First Commandment, when God told Abraham lech lecha: Thou shalt leave home. Thou shalt get lost. Thou shalt find slander, oppression, opportunity, escape, and destruction. Thou shalt, by definition, find adventure.”
That’s Michael Chabon. My essay on his recent work is here.
I was actually kinda sad that they went with Men of the Road as the title. Jews with Swords is ever so much catchier. Like a ’70s buddy sitcom.
— Aly Hawkins · Sep 1, 01:09 AM · #
Er, Gentlemen of the Road.
— Aly Hawkins · Sep 1, 01:11 AM · #
I must say this is a great article i enjoyed reading it keep the good work.
— Diesel Jeans · Sep 1, 09:00 AM · #
We may indeed be on the brink of something revolutionary in literature. I can say, as a young writer, that Chabon’s essay on entertainment and literature felt like the battle cry for a new era. The Romantics cast their shadow for about a hundred years before the Modernists overturned them; and I predict that now the shadow of Eliot/Woolf/Joyce is beginning to fade. Now comes something entirely new.
— Bert · Sep 1, 11:05 PM · #
I saw his wife on C-span talking about her book on motherhood a few months ago.
I just wonder how she fits into the adventure.
— Julana · Sep 7, 11:48 PM · #