More Jewish Stuff
There's more discussion of Why There Is No Jewish Narnia at osewalrus and ashnistrike.
A eulogy for Philip Klass (William Tenn), an excellent science fiction writer who did the sort of classic satire which seems to have fallen out of the field. It includes a link to him reading his "On Venus, Have We Got a Rabbi", which is very sad, funny, and intelligent-- and hopeful from a certain angle. There's an interview for the first 40 minutes of the interview-- you could skip it, but where else are you going to find out that John Cage was a very good poker player? [1] Also, I'd say that Tenn was one of the best talkers in sf. One of my favorite programs items was just Tenn by himself talking for an hour.[2]
Sooner or later, every Jewish community hangs by nothing [3]. Jews are moving out of a Swedish town because of a combination of violence from Muslim immigrants and a left-wing Mayor who says that the violence is simply a natural reaction to Israeli policies. News story from interactiveleaf.
[1]Well, here, but I'm not going to transcribe the whole interview for you. The experimental composers of the era tended to like science fiction. There's probably a dissertation in there for someone.
[2] I've seen a discussion on rec.arts.sf.fandom of what program items people remember most fondly, and I think there was a consensus that they consisted of one or two well-chosen people who could just talk about whatever they wanted.
[3]A quote from the Tenn story. I hope a day comes when this doesn't make emotional sense any more.
Addendum:More discussion of "There Is No Jewish Narnia" at here, mostly listing more writers, but also with a discussion of whether Jewish symbols are as good fantasy fodder as Christian symbols.
A eulogy for Philip Klass (William Tenn), an excellent science fiction writer who did the sort of classic satire which seems to have fallen out of the field. It includes a link to him reading his "On Venus, Have We Got a Rabbi", which is very sad, funny, and intelligent-- and hopeful from a certain angle. There's an interview for the first 40 minutes of the interview-- you could skip it, but where else are you going to find out that John Cage was a very good poker player? [1] Also, I'd say that Tenn was one of the best talkers in sf. One of my favorite programs items was just Tenn by himself talking for an hour.[2]
Sooner or later, every Jewish community hangs by nothing [3]. Jews are moving out of a Swedish town because of a combination of violence from Muslim immigrants and a left-wing Mayor who says that the violence is simply a natural reaction to Israeli policies. News story from interactiveleaf.
[1]Well, here, but I'm not going to transcribe the whole interview for you. The experimental composers of the era tended to like science fiction. There's probably a dissertation in there for someone.
[2] I've seen a discussion on rec.arts.sf.fandom of what program items people remember most fondly, and I think there was a consensus that they consisted of one or two well-chosen people who could just talk about whatever they wanted.
[3]A quote from the Tenn story. I hope a day comes when this doesn't make emotional sense any more.
Addendum:More discussion of "There Is No Jewish Narnia" at here, mostly listing more writers, but also with a discussion of whether Jewish symbols are as good fantasy fodder as Christian symbols.