I admit I was amused to read some of the reviews of this book.This does seem to be one you either love or hate.I'm on the - mostly- love side.It helps to place this book in context.The context is that of the Jewish novel.I don't doubt that Jews have written novels since the inception of the form.What I have in mind is the type of novel that I would say began coming out with regularity in the 1940's and kept coming in a steady stream at least until the 1980's.These novels were written by Jewish writers and featured Jewish characters.They often wrote about an essentially Jewish world, one in which Jewishness was assumed sometimes without being explicitly mentioned.The writers of these books were largely American (the Canadian writer Mordecai Richler deserves honorable mention).They wrote for Jews and non- Jews alike.Or at least they knew non-Jews would be watching , something the older generation of Yiddish writers probably didn't worry about.This type of novel is disappearing as a result of social-historical change.The Chicago and New York of Bellow, Roths' Newark, Richlers' Montreal are gone.The new generation of Jewish writers likely didn't grow up in a Jewish neighborhood.They always had non-Jewish friends, neighbors and may have non-Jewish spouses.The Finkler Question is a Jewish novel written in the context of this change.Jacobson finds that he can't write a novel like Bellow or Roth even if he wanted to and had the ability to do so(which I think he'd admit he doesn't).So he does something else.
The main character in The Finkler Question is not Jewish.He is a chronic misfit named Julian Treslove who hangs out with media celebrity author Sam Finkler and an old Central European named Libor in London.Treslove functions as a vantage point for the novel.As he becomes more and more obssessed with the idea of Jewishness, the reader gets the opportunity to observe modern Jewish life from his viewpoint.So what we have here is a novel by a Jewish writer which centers on a non Jew fixated on Jewishness. Jewishness is a floating target here.It doesn't have the taken for granted quality of , say, SEIZE THE DAY.Thrilled that he has finally had sex with a Jewish woman, Treslove finds out she is a Reform(Liberal) convert.In one of the funniest jokes in the book , after aquiring an "authentic " Jewish girlfriend , Treslove is told by her to read Maimonides GUIDE FOR THE PERPLEXED because after all he holds himself out to be perplexed and he could use a guide.The only part of the book that interests Treslove is Maimonides reflections on circumcision and the foreskin.Meanwhile Finkler is off leading a group called Ashamed Jews which advocates the Palestinian cause , while Libor rather senses he's lived too long.All that was solid about Jewish life has melted and confusion and absurdity reign supreme.Herzog, Tommy Wilhelm, let alone Duddy Kravitz weren't happy or secure but they were rooted mensches compared to these people.Jacobsen may have written a post Jewish novel or perhaps a kind of death note.It's often funny and it is exaggerated .I suspect it 's more true than not.I would definitely classify it as what Philip Rieff would call a deathwork.
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Top reviews from other countries
Ben
Worrying away at the Jewish question
Reviewed in Australia 🇦🇺 on January 8, 2016Liz Jackson
A very different book from my usual ones. It ...
Reviewed in Australia 🇦🇺 on November 23, 2014
