David Mamet, Schocken, 2006
The award-winning playwright David Mamet has produced a beautiful, albeit very harsh read in this new book. Initially attracted by the excerpt on the back (which is exceptionally critical of self-hating Jews), I picked the book up in the USA and couldn’t put it down. Mamet addresses a theme that most to us don’t want to think about – the role of Jews in current anti-Semitism and anti-Israel activities. He offers a rigorous, yet almost poetically stated examination of what must be one of the most unpleasant realities of the modern Jewish world – that much of the invective directed against Israel is instigated by Jews. The author evinces a very strong Jewish identity (occasionally quoting Jewish sources), but sticks mainly to penetrating analysis of the desire to be seen to fit into the rest of the world; how repudiating one’s Jewish identity means for many showing how anti-Jewish one’s views are and how it never really succeeds in the eyes of one’s detractors. Highly recommended, albeit depressing, reading.
The Wicked Son
