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Sundown: Controversial Novelist Dies

Plus Turkey rising, and more

by
Marc Tracy
June 18, 2010
José Saramago.(Wikipedia)
José Saramago.(Wikipedia)

• The Nobel Prize-winning Portuguese novelist José Saramago died. He will be remembered as a great writer … and as the man who in 2002 compared Israeli actions in the West Bank to German actions at Auschwitz. [NYT]

• If it wasn’t clear enough before, the United States can definitely no longer count on Turkey backing it on major issues. [National Interest]

• Is Turkey attempting to revive its Ottoman (read: imperial) roots? [TNR]

• A profile of Elena Kagan’s family, which managed to be Jewish, left-wing, and Upper West Side, all at the same time. [NYT]

• Bollywood is making a controversial Hitler biopic. [Arts Beat]

• Indoors this weekend? Check out Executive Editor Gabriel Sanders interviewing Kai Bird, author of the memoir Crossing Mandelbaum’s Gate, on Book TV. [CSPAN]

A song about Molly Bloom. Music (and performer): Alicia Jo Rabins. Lyrics: James Joyce.

Marc Tracy is a staff writer at The New Republic, and was previously a staff writer at Tablet. He tweets @marcatracy.