Freud's Last Session.

The Couch and the Confessional

Sigmund Freud's last book, Moses and Monotheism, was published in 1939, a year after  he fled, mortally ill with cancer of the jaw, from Nazi-occupied Vienna to London.  The book is famous for its speculations that Moses was not Jewish and that the people he led out of Egyptian slavery murdered him.   

Armand Nicholi on Freud and Lewis  Charlie Rose.  The author discusses the "striking parallelism" between Freud's and Lewis' ideas and the enduring consequences of both. (Video)  SAVE

Defender of the Faith?  Mark Edmundson,  New York Times.  The critic explains his reasons for concluding that Freud, near the end of his life, began to recognize "the poetry and promise in religion."  SAVE

The Question of God  PBS.  A PBS series inspired by Nicholi's work, including excerpts from Freud's and Lewis' writings, interviews with scholars and thinkers, and a guide for group discussions.  SAVE

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2011: A Year in Books

The holidays are over, the coffee-table books have all been unwrapped and set aside, and winter isn't going anywhere for a while. In short, it's time to settle in for some good reading. The literary critic D. G. Myers here presents the 38 best Jewish books of 2011, all of which merit your attention.

2010: A Year in Books  D.G. Myers,  Jewish Ideas Daily.  From the popular to the scholarly, a reader's and buyer's guide to 34 of the best books of 2010.  SAVE

Retrieving American Jewish Fiction  D.G. Myers,  Jewish Ideas Daily.  A historical symposium of some neglected classics, and an introduction to the avot and imahot of American Jewish writing.  SAVE

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Shtik and Sensibility

Theater can challenge preconceptions or play it safe. Relatively Speaking, a set of one-act plays by Ethan Coen, Elaine May, and Woody Allen, rises to the challenge.  The plays are variations on the theme of the Jewish mother, and two are predictable—but one is unusual.

Three Wits, One Show  Elaine May,  New York Times.  Interviewing her co-authors, May asks "the probing questions that will reveal the deeper, more complex nature of [Coen and Allen] in a way that will not hurt ticket sales."  SAVE

“Do You Remember Me?”  YouTube.  Mike Nichols and Elaine May perform the "Mother and Son" skit. (Video)  SAVE

“Joke’s on Them”  YouTube.  Woody Allen performs "The Moose." (Video)  SAVE

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Look for the Union Label

With the din from the Occupy Wall Street encampments fading in the early winter chill, it's time to step back and consider the phenomenon as part of the broader history of the anti-capitalist struggle in America.

Drowning in the Red Sea  Ruth R. Wisse,  Jewish Review of Books.  When it came to the multi-factional Yiddish press, you couldn't tell the players without a program.  SAVE

Heaven Will Protect the Working Girl  American Social History Project.  A project of the City University of New York presents documents, interviews, and a film about the lives of immigrant girls in the New York garment industry at the beginning of the 20th century.  SAVE

Fannia M. Cohn  Thomas Dublin,  Jewish Women's Archive.  A biographical sketch of the ILGWU's first woman vice president, a leader in workers' education.  SAVE

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