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The Ping-Pong Wizard
Howard Jacobson is the underdog but our favorite
The Man Booker Prize will be awarded to one of six books tomorrow, and the tea leaves suggest that Tom McCarthy’s C will win. Tablet Magazine’s official nominee, however, remains Howard Jacobson’s The Finkler Question. This is the British Jewish novelist’s first appearance on the shortlist (he has made several longlists), and if he pulls off an upset tomorrow, pleaes tell your friends that the place to go for all things Jacobson is the daily magazine of Jewish life and culture you hold in your virtual hands.
Today, we have an interview with Jacobson, in which he talks about his new novel, his old novel, his country, his people’s country, and his first love—which happens to be ping-pong.
Speaking of! We’re also extremely pleased to publish, for the first time in the United States, Jacobson’s 1999 profile of American table tennis champion Marty Reisman.
As for The Finkler Question itself: Books critic Adam Kirsch sung its merits last week.
Haven’t had your fill? Listen below to hear Jacobson discuss Israel and intone its name many, many times.
Related: The Plot Against England [Tablet Magazine]
Smash [Tablet Magazine]
Mirror Images [Tablet Magazine]
Earlier:Jacobson’s ‘Finkler’ Makes Man Booker Shortlist
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Irving Finkel, an expert on ancient Mesopotamia, decodes a Babylonian tablet and traces its path to the Book of Genesis
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How one shy, whistle-blowing intern in an Amsterdam archive uncovered a travesty that insulted a decimated community
Centuries Ago, Jews Were Farmers Like Everybody Else. Why Did They Leave the Fields?
Two economists argue that literacy, not laws forbidding land ownership, created a small, widely dispersed and highly skilled minority
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- Graphic Novelist Liana Finck on Yiddish Letters, Teen Angst, and Becoming a Book Person
