An Evening with Howard Jacobson
By: Penelope Solomon
I’m not sure there are many people I’d go out into central London for on a cold rainy wet Sunday night. But I’m glad I did. And I didn’t mind paying £4.50 for the car park even when there was free parking on the streets because if I hadn’t been able to find a parking place, I might have had to park miles away and then I’d have got soaked.
So I’m sitting there and there’s a buzz. This is the finale to Jewish Book Week 2007. People are excited, the place is filling up. I see lots of glasses and teeth.
Howard Jacobson is sharp; no wonder he was a University Lecturer. He is eloquent and intelligent and gets to the very nub of the matter. What he says resonates, touches you, warms you, reaches you. No wonder he’s sold out. You cannot help but listen to everything he says. His stories envelop you, they take you somewhere beyond yourself. Often to Manchester where he like me grew up. He was poor Jewish, we were rich (ish) Jewish but that’s not relevant.
His phrases stick in your ear – ‘I am the Jewish Jane Austin’, ‘I write to deliver’, (sounds like Dick Turpin) ‘Jews don’t like anal intercourse cos they can’t talk to the woman and Jews like talking’ Yes oh yes and these bookish literary Jews of London laugh and I feel relieved that someone has the guts to talk dirty and gets away with it. Why? Because he’s the Jewish Jane Austin.
And I asked my question first, so that I wouldn’t have to tremble with nerves whilst waiting to ask my question. It seems that his latest novel Kalooki Nights is more overtly Jewish in content than any of his previous ones. Apparently when writing it, he was terrified, as every other word was ‘Jew’. But no, the non Jewish critics have hailed it as his best work yet. Howard or ‘Mr. Jacobson’ as the London literary Jews called him said, ‘It’s universal - The more particular you are, the more universal you are’. So rather than feeling excluded the non Jews have been welcomed in. ‘So why then’ I asked ‘is it so hard to get overtly Jewish comedy onto television or radio? He said that the reason is that in the media the people in charge are Jewish and most Jews are awkward /embarrassed about being Jewish. They want to keep low, hide. A lot of the people with the power are Jewish and usually don’t want to jump up and down about it.
But then I thought maybe it’s easier via a novel because books are quiet you can put them away on a bookshelf amongst a load of other books. They’re not in your face (unless you’re long- sighted), they don’t have a collective audience, they’re not so dangerous. Whereas TV and radio are much more out there, a public activity, an audible intrusion – pehaps more
scary or embarrassing?
As I drove home and the rain beat against the window pain, I thought about the stirring passion found in Jane Austin’s novels and about the passion for writing and Manchester that Howard Jacobson had communicated. And I identified with his words, ‘The sheer joy of writing a sentence’ and ‘Manchester – It’s the heartland’.
Penelope Solomon is a television comedy writer, yiddish cabaret singer and was Daily Telegraph Open Mic semi-finalist.
I’m not sure there are many people I’d go out into central London for on a cold rainy wet Sunday night. But I’m glad I did. And I didn’t mind paying £4.50 for the car park even when there was free parking on the streets because if I hadn’t been able to find a parking place, I might have had to park miles away and then I’d have got soaked.
So I’m sitting there and there’s a buzz. This is the finale to Jewish Book Week 2007. People are excited, the place is filling up. I see lots of glasses and teeth.
Howard Jacobson is sharp; no wonder he was a University Lecturer. He is eloquent and intelligent and gets to the very nub of the matter. What he says resonates, touches you, warms you, reaches you. No wonder he’s sold out. You cannot help but listen to everything he says. His stories envelop you, they take you somewhere beyond yourself. Often to Manchester where he like me grew up. He was poor Jewish, we were rich (ish) Jewish but that’s not relevant.
His phrases stick in your ear – ‘I am the Jewish Jane Austin’, ‘I write to deliver’, (sounds like Dick Turpin) ‘Jews don’t like anal intercourse cos they can’t talk to the woman and Jews like talking’ Yes oh yes and these bookish literary Jews of London laugh and I feel relieved that someone has the guts to talk dirty and gets away with it. Why? Because he’s the Jewish Jane Austin.
And I asked my question first, so that I wouldn’t have to tremble with nerves whilst waiting to ask my question. It seems that his latest novel Kalooki Nights is more overtly Jewish in content than any of his previous ones. Apparently when writing it, he was terrified, as every other word was ‘Jew’. But no, the non Jewish critics have hailed it as his best work yet. Howard or ‘Mr. Jacobson’ as the London literary Jews called him said, ‘It’s universal - The more particular you are, the more universal you are’. So rather than feeling excluded the non Jews have been welcomed in. ‘So why then’ I asked ‘is it so hard to get overtly Jewish comedy onto television or radio? He said that the reason is that in the media the people in charge are Jewish and most Jews are awkward /embarrassed about being Jewish. They want to keep low, hide. A lot of the people with the power are Jewish and usually don’t want to jump up and down about it.
But then I thought maybe it’s easier via a novel because books are quiet you can put them away on a bookshelf amongst a load of other books. They’re not in your face (unless you’re long- sighted), they don’t have a collective audience, they’re not so dangerous. Whereas TV and radio are much more out there, a public activity, an audible intrusion – pehaps more
scary or embarrassing?
As I drove home and the rain beat against the window pain, I thought about the stirring passion found in Jane Austin’s novels and about the passion for writing and Manchester that Howard Jacobson had communicated. And I identified with his words, ‘The sheer joy of writing a sentence’ and ‘Manchester – It’s the heartland’.
Penelope Solomon is a television comedy writer, yiddish cabaret singer and was Daily Telegraph Open Mic semi-finalist.
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