Benjamin Ivry is a frequent Forward contributor.
Benjamin Ivry
By Benjamin Ivry
-
The Schmooze Leading Lady with a Diabolique Sense of Justice
On September 30, the 25th anniversary of the death of beautiful French actress Simone Signoret, Les éditions Michel Lafon paid homage by publishing an augmented edition of an acclaimed biography by Emmanuelle Guilcher, “Signoret: a Life.” Signoret’s own two memoirs have just been reprinted by Les éditions du Seuil: “Nostalgia Isn’t What it Used to…
-
The Schmooze Francis Veber: Laughter from Pain
The veteran French comedy filmmaker Francis Veber, whose “Le Dîner de cons” was recently remade in Hollywood as “Dinner for Schmucks,” is a master of spoofing painful social anxiety and feelings of exclusion. His new memoir from Les éditions Robert Laffont, “Let This be our Secret,” addresses how Veber’s Jewish roots influenced his comedic skills….
-
Books Misreading Claude Lévi-Strauss the Man
After the well-deserved hosannas of praise for the centenary, and subsequent dignified mourning for the demise, of the great French Jewish anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss, a backlash seemed inevitable. On October 7, “Claude Lévi-Strauss: The Poet in the Laboratory,” by Patrick Wilcken, presented as the “definitive account of the life, work, and legacy,” was published by…
-
Culture Separate Universes Coexisting: Chaya Czernowin’s Musical Artistry
Israeli composer Chaya Czernowin, long admired in select contemporary music circles, is now winning wider acclaim both demographically and geographically for her ardent, finely honed works. Czernowin’s chamber music in particular has won kudos, as a flurry of upcoming international performances by diverse hands proves. Over the next six months, Czernowin’s work will be performed…
-
The Schmooze Lenin, Stalin, and Jewish Musicians
On October 12, Paris’s Cité de la Musique opened a new exhibit, “Lenin, Stalin, and Music” which includes much fascinating material about the fate, and often the plight, of Russian Jewish musicians. With the benefit of hindsight it’s difficult to see why any Jews stayed in Soviet Russia. However, a brilliantly concise and well-illustrated exhibition…
-
Books Wizardly Weaver Who Invented ‘Role Models’
The American sociologist Robert K. Merton, who died in 2003 at age 92, was a longtime fixture at Columbia University, where he invented such now-standard terms as “role model” and “self-fulfilling prophecy,” as well as the concept of a “focus group.” A thoughtful new study, out on September 14 from Columbia University Press, “Robert K….
-
Culture Are They Giving an Oscar to an Anti-Semite?
Hollywood’s Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences intends to award an honorary Oscar to iconic French-Swiss filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard on November 13. But will the academy be honoring a notoriously vocal, albeit French-speaking, anti-Semite? Admired for avant-garde films like “Breathless” (1960); “My Life to Live” (1962) and “Contempt” (1963), Godard is one of the…
-
Books ‘I Remember Papa,’ Fottorino Says of his Moroccan Jewish Father
At the tender age of 50 Éric Fottorino is not just CEO of the company which owns the French daily “Le Monde,” but also a prize-winning novelist. And now Nice-born Fottorino has just produced an intensely personal memoir addressing his Jewish ancestry, “Questions for my Father,” recently published by Les éditions Gallimard. Fottorino belatedly reconnected…
Explore
Most Popular
- 1
Culture Charlie Kirk kept a ‘Jewish Sabbath.’ What did he mean by that?
- 2
Antisemitism Decoded Israel is being blamed for Charlie Kirk’s death. Here’s what that conspiracy theory says about the far right’s divide
- 3
Fast Forward ‘Murdered for speaking truth’: Netanyahu and US Jewish leaders mourn Charlie Kirk
- 4
News Who was Horst Wessel, and why are people comparing Charlie Kirk to him?
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward In Israel, public tributes to Charlie Kirk include a street naming, a mural and a missile in Gaza
-
Opinion Amid terror in Jerusalem, a cab driver’s brave gesture showcased the Israel I’ve always loved
-
Looking Forward Everyone thought I was crazy for majoring in religious studies. Here’s why it matters now more than ever.
-
Culture Charlie Kirk kept a ‘Jewish Sabbath.’ What did he mean by that?
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
