LIVE! #45
4 December 2022
Agenda
- Why We're Here / Roundtable Rules
- Introduction to Literary Forensics
- Group Discussion
- Further Study
Why We're Here
We writers want to improve our craft
by reading like a writer
We learn from each other
using Literary Forensics
Roundtable Rules
Always refer back to the book
Practice active listening & serendipity
Every feeling and observation is valid...
but not every conclusion
Always refer back to the book
Reading Teaches Writing
Meet today's author: Joshua Cohen
- Grew up in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and attended the Manhattan School of Music studying composition
- Does not have an MFA, and has expressed disdain for the degree
- Lived in various cities in Eastern Europe between 2001 and 2006, working as a journalist
- Reads both German and Hebrew and has translated works in both languages into English
- In 2017, Granta Magazine named him to its decennial list of the Best Young American Writers
- Currently lives in Red Hook, Brooklyn
What do you feel?
What in the book elicited that feeling?
Every feeling and observation is valid...
but every conclusion should be questioned
We practice serendipity
- nothing is too crazy
Always refer back to the book
What do you notice?
Stats & Background
- Marketing: Jewish Literature & Fiction, Biographical Fiction, Biographical Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, Humorous Fiction & Satire
- Genre: Longform Historical Archplot
- Print Pages: 248; Word count: 65,744
- Reading Grade: 9-10th; Avg. wds/sent.: 14.59
- Lexical Density: 47.47; Flesch Reading Ease: 63.70
- POV: Ruben Blum; Person: 1st; Tense: Past
- Publish date: June 22, 2021
- Publisher: New York Review of Books
- Audio book narr.: Joshua Cohen, David Duchovny, Ethan Herschenfeld (8 hours 31 minutes)
- Recognition: 2022 Pulitzer Prize; 2021 National Jewish Book Award; Best books of 2021: NYT, Kirkus, WSJ
- Writing his 6th Novel
- Inspired by Netanyahu's visit to Yale, where Harold Bloom was tapped to chaperone Ben-Zion, his wife, and three sons
- Dedicated to Harold Bloom, whom Cohen knew and visited
- “Eliminate the Diaspora or the Diaspora will eliminate you.” —Ze’ev Jabotinsky, Tisha B’Av, 1938
