Alfred Kazin's journals; Chaim Soutine's meaty canvasses; Baltimore's Cone sisters; the Torah portion and Jewish self-absorbtion

Follow Tablet Magazine: June 10, 2011   Fannie, Forgotten Lost Books Daybreak: Israel Prepares Diplomatic Push Plus the Syrian troubles continue, and more in the news Meet the World's Foremost Jewish Numismatist Plus a great excuse to use the word 'numismatist' More from THE SCROLL Rough Draft Alfred Kazin's journals were more than just repositories for literary reflections; they were the laboratories in which he fashioned the writer—and Jew—he aspired to be BY MARK SHECHNER Alfred Kazin was one of those unaffiliated intellectuals who dominated the American literary landscape in the 20th century, toward the end of a line that included Van Wyck Brooks, Randolph Bourne, Edmund Wilson, Harold Rosenberg, Clement Greenberg, Irving Howe, Susan Sontag, and Cynthia Ozick. Chief among his books are a magisterial literary history of America, On Native Grounds (1942), a magnum opus published when Kazin was just 27, and a memoir, A Walker in the City (1951), in which Kazin demonstrated powers of observation, dialogue, and narrative rivaling those of the era's novelists. There were two more stirring memoirs, Starting Out in the Thirties (1965) and New York Jew (1978), plus a steady flow of editions and collections. More Meaty Matters Long before Francis Bacon became famous for his carnal paintings, Chaim Soutine brought bloody beef into the artist's studio and inspired generations of flesh- minded painters More BY BEN SCHACHTER Sister Act Etta and Claribel Cone, two Jewish sisters from Baltimore, went to Paris, helped discover Picasso, supported Matisse, and, as a new show at the Jewish Museum argues, shaped the birth of modern art More BY JOSEPH WINKLER Scream Cycle Forget the self-hating Jew; as everything from Internet comments to political speeches shows us, and as this week’s parasha reminds us, it's the self-infatuated ones we need to look out for More BY Liel Leibovitz This email was sent to you by Tablet Magazine. To ensure delivery to your inbox, please add digest@tabletmag.com to your address book. To unsubscribe to this email, reply to this email with "Unsubscribe" in the subject line. Tablet Magazine | 295 Lafayette Street, Suite 501 | New York, NY 10012 Unsubscribe | Forward to a Friend