Yid Lit: Ben Greenman
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
Ben Greenman is an author and an editor at The New Yorker magazine who is worried about the state of written communication — now that the lightening speed of email has replaced the patience and thoughtfulness required to send someone you care about a hand-written note.
The stories in Greenman’s new collection, “What He’s Poised To Do” (Harper Perennial) span time and space, but letters link them together: a young mother writes of love and sibling rivalry in 1960s Nebraska, a real estate broker recounts an affair that began in a Chicago apartment he tried to sell, and a son adjusts to his family’s new life in a colony on the moon.
Greenman recently visited the Forward studio to discuss the rich Jewish history of letter-writing and the future of the medium — now that we’re more likely to click on a mailbox than to walk to one.
