More in ‘Alfred Kazin’

The idea that there is a Jewish genius for commentary—more, that in some way commentary, or criticism, or interpretation, represents the truly Jewish way of engaging with literature, and even with the world—has appealed to many modern Jewish writers. And certainly there is no shortage of examples to support this idea. Georg Morris Cohen Brandes, the late-19th century Danish Jewish critic, was responsible for introducing the works of Nietzsche and Ibsen to Europe. Walter Benjamin, perhaps the most influential theorist of modernism, elevated criticism and commentary to a high art, even a metaphysical principle; to Benjamin, everything that exists, from language to the stars, is a kind of text waiting for its commentator.

Just as the octogenarian survivors of the Great Depression are about to go extinct, we are beginning to suffer, in the winter of 2008-2009, another catastrophe—with the collapse of our most prominent investment banks, the failure of giant insurers, and the nationalization of so many related businesses. We meet these challenges today with an undifferentiated ...

In 1936, the novelist and critic Ludwig Lewisohn was asked to name the world’s ten greatest living Jews. The resulting list, which ran in The New York Times, included Albert Einstein, Sigmund Freud, Martin Buber, and Louis Brandeis. Lewisohn deemed only one writer great enough to be included in this illustrious company: Sholem Asch.

The Polish-born ...