June 4, 2008
Campaign 2008: Candidates discuss … Philip Roth?
I just finished reading Jeffrey Goldberg’s interviews with Barack Obama and John McCain. And while I enjoyed reading about the two presidential candidates’ policies regarding Israel, Iran and the Middle East in general, I was amused by their differing stances on Philip Roth. Obama says Roth “helped shape my sensibility,” but McCain says he’s not a fan.
You ought to read the full text of the interviews on Goldberg’s blog but here are the excerpts relevant to Jewish literary fans.
First, Obama discussed how he read David Grossman’s “The Yellow Wind” when it came out and that reading about Grossman now is “powerful, painful stuff.” (Grossman figured prominently in a lengthy story about Israel Goldberg penned recently for The Atlantic). Obama went on to say how Jewish writers and scholars influenced him:
Jeffrey Goldberg: You’ve talked about the role of Jews in the development of your thinking.
Barack Obama: I always joke that my intellectual formation was through Jewish scholars and writers, even though I didn’t know it at the time. Whether it was theologians or Philip Roth who helped shape my sensibility, or some of the more popular writers like Leon Uris. So when I became more politically conscious, my starting point when I think about the Middle East is this enormous emotional attachment and sympathy for Israel, mindful of its history, mindful of the hardship and pain and suffering that the Jewish people have undergone, but also mindful of the incredible opportunity that is presented when people finally return to a land and are able to try to excavate their best traditions and their best selves. And obviously it’s something that has great resonance with the African-American experience.
One of the things that is frustrating about the recent conversations on Israel is the loss of what I think is the natural affinity between the African-American community and the Jewish community, one that was deeply understood by Jewish and black leaders in the early civil-rights movement but has been estranged for a whole host of reasons that you and I don’t need to elaborate.
As for McCain, most of the interview dealt with security issues and foreign policy but Goldberg threw in a question about Roth at the end:
Jeffrey Goldberg: A final question: Senator Obama talked about how his life was influenced by Jewish writers, Philip Roth, Leon Uris. How about you?
John McCain: There’s Elie Wiesel, and Victor Frankl. I think about Frankl all the time. “Man’s Search for Meaning” is one of the most profound things I’ve ever read in my life. And maybe on a little lighter note, “War and Remembrance” and “Winds of War” are my two absolute favorite books. I can tell you that one of my life’s ambitions is to meet Herman Wouk. “War and Remembrance” for me, it’s the whole thing.Then there’s Joe Lieberman, who lives a life of his religion, and who does it in the most humble way.
JG: Not a big Philip Roth fan?
JM: No, I’m not. Leon Uris I enjoyed. Victor Frankl, that’s important. I read it before my captivity. It made me feel a lot less sorry for myself, my friend. A fundamental difference between my experience and the Holocaust was that the Vietnamese didn’t want us to die. They viewed us as a very valuable asset at the bargaining table. It was the opposite in the Holocaust, because they wanted to exterminate you. Sometimes when I felt sorry for myself, which was very frequently, I thought, “This is nothing compared to what Victor Frankl experienced.”
For those of you who enjoy reading Goldberg’s reporting on the Middle East, as I do, you can check out his latest book, “Prisoners: A Story of Friendship and Terror.”
Alas, after last night’s events, it does not appear Goldberg will be following up with Hillary Clinton to find out what Jewish writers she likes. That’s a pity because now I’m actually wondering what she must think of Philip Roth.
For more news about Jewish books, sign up for Jewish Literary Review’s email alerts.