Or is it a fracas? A hub-bub? A dust up? Anyway, as I mentioned last week, Bookforum has an article that suggests that Michael Chabon, a blog favorite, fabricated a story about the Holocaust, possibly with the intent to deceive his audience. The lectures were sponsored by Nextbook, a Jewish cultural organization. This week, Nextbook responds, suggesting that the author of the Bookforum article largely missed the point. The title of the lecture was “Golems I have Known” in which Chabon states “Golems are real” and describes his encounters with them. At any rate, Nextbook includes a complete audio file of the lecture. If you listen, the audience seems to me to be in on the “performance”. Chabon gives many literary-style clues that he may be an unreliable narrator. That’s my take. Listen for yourself and draw your own conclusions.
In seperate, yet somehow related news, there is apparently a Hasidic reggae star. No, really.