Dissident Gardens, the new novel by Jonathan Lethem, offers a fascinating snapshot of our moment in the evolution of Jewish cultural memory. There is, one might say, a 50-year horizon for cultural memory, corresponding roughly to the lifespan of an adult. Once a period of history gets to be 50 years old, the sun of memory sets over that horizon and is replaced by the moonlight of myth. Moonlight is more romantic and produces shadows and glints that are invisible by day. But it is also not very good to see by; and myth never displays the past as accurately as history does, or tries to.
Read Full Article »
