#the princess bride is jewish fiction FIGHT ME

[finelythreadedsky]

Why is there no Jewish narnia? (As you mentioned in your last post) I have some suspicions, but would love to read your thoughts!

This is a long answer but I wrote a 20 page paper on this so:

It’s essentially because fantasy (mostly high fantasy) as it has developed through the last century is an inherently Christian genre. Works of specifically Jewish speculative fiction tend to be sci-fi, alternate history, or historical fantasy NOT in the vaguely medieval setting common in fantasy. There are Jewish works of fantasy (Maggie Anton’s Rav Hisda’s Daughter, Helene Wecker’s The Golem and the Jinni) and high fantasy (The Princess Bride, Shira Glassman’s Mangoverse), but there is not a fantasy world that is Jewish in the same way that Narnia is Christian (Shira Glassman comes closest, but Jewish theology is not interwoven into her work the same way Christian theology is in Narnia or Middle Earth).

read more for analysis of fantasy’s theological inclusivity, relationship to the past, and tension between nostalgia and modernity!

Modern fantasy as a genre has been largely shaped by Tolkien and Lewis, deeply religious men whose works are infused with their Christianity (arguably also by GRR Martin, who is a former Catholic, but it’s too soon to tell). Fantasy also derives its origins from A Pilgrim’s Progress, a seventeenth century Christian allegory that was incredibly influential for subsequent literature, particularly the idea of a fantasy quest that also prompts a character’s moral/spiritual growth. The quest narrative is inherently Christian in its origins, and its effect of a character’s moral/spiritual development and coming of age is also fairly Christian.

Usually actual Christianity isn’t present in vaguely historical fantasy worlds, but fantasy worlds’ religion/spirituality often vaguely resembles (what the author believed about) Western European pre-Christian pagan practices. Middle Earth in particular very heavily parallels Zoroastrianism and Mithraism. We end up with a world poised on the edge of Christianity, that could easily incorporate a Christ-figure. Essentially because Tolkien and Lewis were really into the myths and cultures of pre-Christian Europe, their own stories reflected an interest in integrating those myths and cultures into their own worldview as legitimate, though incomplete, predecessors to Christianity. Their fantasy pagans are primitive precursors to Christianity, getting a glimpse of divine truth but not yet achieving fulfillment through Jesus. A corresponding ‘pre-Jewish’ fantasy world wouldn’t work or make sense, not only because Judaism pre-dates or is contemporary with most of the mythologies and cultures that interested Tolkien, Lewis, and other writers: Jews don’t have the same theological imperative to reconcile pagan mythologies with their worldview, because that imperative comes out of an understanding of one’s own religion as the only source of truth. Historically Christianity has been very concerned with whether people who were not christian because they lived before Jesus (or before Christianity reached the area they were living in) could still be righteous/saved, but Judaism holds that people who are not Jewish are just fine as they are and so has no need to insist on the partial divine inspiration of non/pre-Jewish peoples as Tolkien and Lewis do for non/pre-Christian peoples.

Likewise there isn’t really a Jewish need to create moral/theological allegories, which is the basis of modern fantasy, from A Pilgrim’s Progress to that bit we all hate with Susan being no longer a queen of Narnia, because Judaism is not concerned with spreading and teaching its values in the same way that Christianity is. Fantasy tends to come out of a Christian perspective on a cosmic battle between good and evil that is also a battle over the individual soul of the protagonist. Will God or the devil, good or evil triumph over Middle Earth or Narnia? Will moral purity and a sense of what is truly valuable defeat the appeal of the present at hand for Dorothy Gale and Bilbo Baggins? The duality of good and evil and pitting them against each other in a battle for an individual soul is a Christian thing. The idea that the fate of the entire world can rest on a single soul? Also a Christian thing.

Tolkien/Lewis style fantasy is infused with an inherently Christian relationship to the past (i.e., return to a prior golden age). Fairly obviously, Jews have a more complicated relationship with medieval and pre-modern Europe, which is the groundwork of a lot of fantasy. The sort of pastoral nostalgia on which fantasy is built doesn’t really work for Jews, who tend not to be so eager to imagine themselves in the past in that way. Hence the preponderance of Jewish sci-fi, which imagines a better future from authors who see the present as better than the past and hope for a future even better than the present. The ability to romanticize the past is a privilege, and it is not one Jews have historically had very often. And fantasy, aside from looking to the historical past for its setting, often takes place in a world that is aware that it has lost its golden age and is attempting to restore it. Middle Earth and Narnia have seen better days but have ‘fallen’ from that temporal Eden through corruption, requiring characters who can vanquish the evil and restore the glorious golden age. Implicit in this is a very Christian perspective of the biblical fall from paradise as an unequivocally bad thing that humans should seek to reverse, as well as the implications of a second coming of Jesus in the restoration of a golden age. Fantasy rests on the assumptions that the past is an authority and something to be restored, historically as well as in-universe, and that the modern age is inferior to its predecessors. Neither of those assumptions work with the experiences of Jews. It’s a Christian idea of the circularity and cyclicality of time and history, where I think a linear perspective is more appropriate to Judaism. And the cyclicality prevents any progress toward modernity— the Narnia books cover two and a half millennia, but the world is stagnant in the Middle Ages the entire time. Jews have a vested interest in progress and modernity that has no place in such fantasy.

(A side note that neo-pagan/anti-Christian fantasy literature from the 60s, 70s, and early 80s is a really interesting contrast to the absence of Jewish fantasy worlds. More than a few authors turned to the same pre-Christian traditions as Tolkien and lewis, but depicted them as wholly un-Christian and explicitly in conflict with Christianity or proto-Christian traditions.)

In doing my research for this I came across A Canticle for Leibowitz, which has the premise that the world is destroyed in a nuclear war but you know what survives and flourishes? The Catholic Church. It consists of three parts, separated by 600 years each, centering monks in the order of St. Leibowitz, an engineer at the end of the world who committed himself to preserving knowledge as it was being destroyed. Question that never got answered: WHY did this 20th century Jewish guy convert to Catholicism and become a priest???? Anyway, the book is Very Catholic. It plays into the Christian cyclicality of history BIG time, which means it hits an interesting place between sci-fi and historical fiction/fantasy, since its 26th century resembles the early middle ages, its 32nd century looks like the Renaissance, its 36th century seems like what someone might have projected for the 22nd century, and all throughout the characters think of the 20th century like we have approached classical antiquity for the past 1500 years. Unfortunately, I did not enjoy it, though there were a few cool bits that dealt with the wandering Jew motif. Not surprisingly, if the premise of your book is that it’s about post-apocalyptic monks, I’m not really into it.

[theawkwardterrier]

Chill Book Recs

It’s a tense time (obvious) and for all those who are social distancing (which should be as many people as possible!!) as well as those who are out there keeping essential services running and caring for those who need it (thank you!!), sometimes we need a chance to relax with a book that’s somewhat low stakes. So I’ve put together some of my faves which are light and funny (and, not coincidentally, often romantic and/or tropey - not sorry!) for you to download as ebooks or audiobook, or order from a bookstore (especially recommend that you check if your local indies are still shipping, or look at Biblio, or the Bookstore at the End of the World collective). Not saying that all the selections below are without obstacle or issue, but I’ve tried to keep it pretty upbeat and noted what I can. Feel free to add your own faves like this, and happy reading!

(Sorry for the abundance of parentheses.)

(No, I’m not.)

Analee, In Real Life by Janelle Milanes (fake dating, MMORPG, Latinx MCs, own voices, family drama, YA)

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins (boarding school, friends to romance, Paris, cancer cw, YA)

The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge by M.T. Anderson (humor, fantasy, enemies to friends, fantasy political intrigue, illustrations, confusion!, middle grade)

Attachments by Rainbow Rowell (semi epistolary, company approved spying, early 2000s, newspaper, best friendships, Getting Yourself Together, very good food descriptions, miscarriage cw, romance, adult)

Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie (enemies to romance, chicken marsala, a familial yikes but very good friends, did you adopt the cat or did the cat adopt you, snow globes, shoe descriptions, fat MC, this is my favorite romance tbh, adult)

The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan (Scotland, power of books, side romance, small town, precariously balanced large vehicle, running your own small business, misunderstanding the role of libraries but I’ll overlook it, job loss cw, adult)

Bossypants by Tina Fey (humor, short chapters, memoir, “Mrs. Fey's change of life baby,” Jimmy Fallon getting owned, adult)

Boy Meets Girl by Meg Cabot (epistolary-ish, baking, complaining about NYC real estate, labor disputes, eating disorder cw, romance, adult)

The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal (historical fiction/alternate history, math/physics/science, supportive husband, Jewish MC, awesome women, worldwide catastrophic event cw [I know but try it], side romances, adult) 

A Countess Below Stairs/The Secret Countess by Eva Ibbotson (historical fiction, WWI/Russian Revolution trauma cw, eugenics cw, quirkier Downton Abbey, romance, YA/adult) 

A Curious Beginning by Deanna Raybourn (historical mystery, side sexiness, butterflies, I keep talking about this series, adult)

Don't Date Rosa Santos by Nina Moreno (Gilmore Girls but make it Florida, Latinx MC and LI, bi MC, family curses, own voices, character death cw, romance, YA)

Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine (fantasy/fairy tale retelling, classic, curses, you’re allowed to like the movie I guess but read the book for real, romance, middle grade)

Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes (small town Maine, overcoming past trauma, spousal death cw, depression cw, The Yips, friends to romance, adult) 

The Extremely Inconvenient Adventures of Bronte Mettlestone by Jaclyn Moriarty (fantasy, cool aunts, journeys, middle grade)

Faking It by Jennifer Crusie (con men/people, messy family, murder?/fleeing the scene/technically I’m homeless, delicious sounding muffins, art theft, romance, adult)

Field Notes on Love by Jennifer E. Smith (train journeys, sextuplets, romance, YA)

The First Rule of Punk by Celia C. Pérez (zines, music, Latinx MC, middle grade)

Heartstopper by Alice Oseman (graphic novel/available as a webcomic [@heartstoppercomic], cute, gay MC, bi MC, school uniforms, bullying cw, romance, YA)

How Not to Ask a Boy to Prom by S.J. Goslee (fake dating, gay, bad boy?, YA)

I Wanna Be Where You Are by Kristina Forest (dance, road trips, Black MC and LI, dog, parental death cw, own voices, enemies to romance, YA)

The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang (statistics, autism/Asperger’s, escort, Asian/biracial MC, family owned restaurant, own voices, romance, adult)

Louisiana's Way Home by Kate DiCamillo (quirky small town, funnier than she knows narrator, a little bittersweet, middle grade)

Lucky Caller by Emma Mills (radio programming, family drama, neighbors, banter, contest mistakes, romance, YA)

The Morning Gift by Eva Ibbotson (marriage of necessity, Holocaust/WWII cw, Jewish MC, scientific sheep, paleontology, quirky side characters, romance, YA/adult)

My Most Excellent Year by Steve Kluger (epistolary-esque, Boston, gay MC, Asian MC, Latinx MC, musical theater, friendships!, baseball, romance, YA)

The Next Great Paulie Fink by Ali Benjamin (multiple POV/semi-epistolary, new girl in school, contests, small town, middle grade)

The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang (graphic novel, fake fantasy but make it fashion, genderfluid MC, middle grade)

The Princess Bride by William Goldman (uncategorizable, funny, classic, fake politics, satiric genius is at its fullest flower, fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles, etc., YA/adult)

Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston (politics, royal family, Texas, Latinx/biracial MC, bi MC, gay LI, everyone’s already talking about it but I listed it anyway, enemies to romance, adult)

The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald (pen pals, small/rural town, translated, character death cw, power of books, side romance iirc, adult)

Roller Girl by Victoria Jamieson (graphic novel, roller derby, friendship, finding yourself, middle grade)

Sorcery & Cecelia, or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer (historical fantasy, Regency, cousins, side romances, estates, The Season, epistolary, middle grade/YA)

The Summer of Jordi Pérez (And the Best Burger in Los Angeles) by Amy Spalding (fashion, burger bros, lesbian MC, fat MC, queer LI, Latinx LI, own voices, romance, YA)

To All the Boys trilogy by Jenny Han (fake dating, baking, sisters, Asian MC, own voices, romance, YA [I mean, if you’ve seen the movies...])

To Night Owl from Dogfish by Holly Goldberg Sloan (epistolary, enemies to friends, matchmaking youth, gay dads, sleepaway camp, middle grade)

[travelswithzoe-blog]

December Book List

I know that I am almost three weeks late with this for which I have no excuse. But prior to heading home for the first time in over eighteen months for Christmas break, I managed to read 15 books which brought my yearly total up 116. In 2016, I had to the goal to read 100 new books so I completed that goal just in time for the New Year. At the end of this post is a list of all of the books that I read. But first, the 16 new ones. 

First up, Across the Lines of Conflict edited by Michael Lund and Steve McDonald. This comparative analysis book is compromised of six different conflict-resolution and peace building case studies across countries including Estonia, Tajikistan,  Cyprus, Burundi, Sri Lanka and Guyana. While the exact programs in these case studies are not universally applicable, there are many common lessons learned and it made for a really interesting read particularly for anyone interested in the conflict resolution field. 

Sister of Mine by Sabra Waldfogel. I got this historical fiction novel for free from Amazon Prime but it turned out to be one of my favorite novels of the month. Set in the lead-up to and during the Civil War, it tells the dual tales of two sisters, one a slave and the mistress, and their lives, trials, their fights and ultimately the forgiveness between them. It was well written and touching. 

Next, The Gates of Rome and The Death of Kings by Conn Iggulden. This series by Iggulden focuses on the life of Julius Caesar starting when he was child and presumably going to his death. This first book was interesting since it started years before Julius Caesar was the Caesar who is famous today. I then read the second in the series, which shows Caesar at the beginning of his fame. However, for some reason, I couldn’t get into this Iggulden series like the Mongol series so I stopped after the second one. 

The Girl From Krakow by Alex Rosenberg. Another free historical fiction novel set during WWII, it follows a Polish Jewish woman who escapes a Nazi ghetto, fakes an identity and ultimately works for the Nazis in order to survive. It was actually an interesting read but I thought it could have lost fifty pages and been just as good. 

Govern Like Us by M.A. Thomas. This book starts with the fundamental argument that poor and developing countries can never govern like rich, first world countries and that the first world governments (including the American government) should stop expecting that of developing countries. Rather, we (first world governments) should try to meet developing countries where they’re at more and seek to understand why these countries often have to depend on governing methods such as corruption, patronage and cronyism. 

Appalachian Daughter by Mary Salyers. This novel (which draws from Salyer’s own experience) tells the coming-of-age story of a teenage girl who hails from a poor, conservative and religious family in Appalachia who is struggling to both define herself and escape where she came from. It is well written and I think, portrays a part of America that is often forgotten where it is easy to feel hopeless. 

Hope’s Peak by Tony Healy. A good old-fashioned murder mystery (also free on Amazon Prime), it wasn’t a bad read but the ending wasn’t as twisting as I would like in a mystery novel. 

All The Beautiful Brides by Rita Herron. Here was a murder mystery that I enjoyed as it had a fair amount of characters and enough plot twists to keep it interesting. If I had to recommend one, it would probably be this.

Dear Departed by Cynthia Harrod Eagles. Amazon Prime certainly does give a lot of murder mysteries for free. Changing the location to urban London, this mystery had some twists but wasn’t my favorite. However, unlike the others, it wasn’t about a serial killer so that switched it up a bit. 

Die For Me by Cynthia Eden. My final free murder mystery of the month, this one center’s on a woman who fled from her ex-fiancé when she discovered he was a serial killer. Now he is after her. Not a bad read but not particularly memorable. 

While You Were Mine by Ann Howard Creel. A romance novel about a woman who adopts her roommate’s baby once the roommate walks on the whole parenting thing during WWII, this novel is okay. Not particularly memorable but not badly written. I understand why it was free on Amazon Prime.  

Worth the Wait by Jamie Beck. A classic romance involving the girl-next-door and the hot boy she has always pined for, this book was predictable but not badly written. If you get your hands on it for free (Amazon Prime) and you need something to read, why not. 

Where We Fall by Rochelle B. Weinstein. Almost all of my books this month, I got for free via Amazon Prime and this was no exception. This is a novel about a deteriorating marriage and secrets that emerge after years of lying. Out of all of the free Amazon books I read in December, this is one of the better ones. 

Mooncop a graphic novel by Tom Gauld. My first (and only) graphic novel of the year which was actually a Christmas gift for my boyfriend. It was funny in a melancholy way but a very short read. I wouldn’t necessarily buy it but if you read it for free, why not? 

And now to list all of the books that I read this year (feel free to stop reading at this point). 

1) Parallel Worlds: Rebuilding The Education System In Kosovo 2) Charlie Wilson’s War 3) Fire Season 4) My Brilliant Friend 5) The American Ambassador 6) Between the World and Me 7) Between Serb and Albanian: A History of Kosovo  8) Go Set A Watchman 9) Going Rogue 10) Liberating Paris 11) The Emporer’s Blades 12) The Providence Of Fire 13) Dress Your Family In Corduroy And Denim  14) Oxygen  15) Wave 16) The Sixth Extinction 17) Asking For It 18) Boomerang 19) Catherine the Great: Love, Sex and Power 20) World Order  21) Gang Leader For A Day 22) Bad Feminist 23) A Mother’s Reckoning: Living In The Aftermath Of A Tragedy 24) Dark Places  25) For All The Wrong Reasons 26) Three Cups Of Tea 27) Wuthering Heights 28) American Gods 29) Afterimage 30) The Ten Thousand Things 31) Guns, Germs, And Steel 32) The Last Days Of Dogtown 33) Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything 34) The Glass Palace 35) The Old Man And The Sea 36) The Balkans, 1804-2012: Nationalism, War and the Great Powers 37) Flights Of Love 38) Faceless Killers  39) The Last Mortal Bond 40) The Flood 41) Before Versailles 42) The New Jim Crow  43) Portfolios Of The Poor 44) Reporting Disasters  45) Baby Proof 46) Love The One You’re With 47) First Comes Love 48) The True Story of Hansel and Gretel 49) The Invisible Bridge 50) Skeletons At The Feast  51) Lovely Green Eyes 52) Beautiful Bodies 53) The Places In Between  54) Saint Anything 55) It’s Not Okay  56) American Taboo: A Murder In The Peace Corps 57) Intrusion 58) Inheritance 59) The Daughter Of Union County 60) A Journal Of Sin  61) The Abducted: The Beginning 62) Three Sisters, Three Queens 63) Rogue Lawyer 64) Harry Potter And The Rogue Child 65) Dealing With China 66) Why Nations Fail 67) An Abundance Of Katherines 68) Rescue In Albania 69) On Immunity 70) The Unbroken Line Of The Moon 71) Blood Against The Snow 72) Annette Valon 73) The Old Cape Magic 74) 1222 75) Monique And The Mango Rains 76) Inside The Kingdom 77) Someone Knows My Name 78) All Is Well 79) Wisdom Sits In Places 80) The Princess Bride 81) 1325: Facts And Fables 82) The Taliban Shuffle 83) Birth Of An Empire 84) Lords Of The Bow 85) Keeping Faith 86) Change of Heart 87) Plain Truth 88) Bones Of The Hills 89) Empire Of Silver 90) Against A Crimson Sky 91) We Should All Be Feminists 92) Modern Albanian 93) The Rational Optimist 94) Outpost 95) Daughter Of Fortune 96) May We Be Forgiven 97) Small Great Things 98) The Audacity Of Hope 99) Lady Elizabeth 100) Captive Queen  101) A Secret Kept 102) Across The Lines Of Conflict 103) Sister of Mine 104) The Gates of Rome 105) The Death of Kings 106) The Girl From Krakow 107) Govern Like Us  108) Appalachian Daughter 109) Hope’s Peak 110) All The Beautiful Brides 111) Dear Departed 112) Die For Me 113) While You Were Mine 114) Worth The Wait 115) Where We Fall 116) Mooncop

And with that long list, that’s a wrap folks.