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The Schmooze

Out and About

  • Sacha Baron Cohen is being criticized for presenting negative stereotypes of Arabs in “The Dictator.” Can’t say this one was hard to see coming.

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  • Aaron Sorkin has signed on to write the script for a Steve Jobs biopic.

  • Aharon Appelfeld’s “Blooms of Darkness” has won the British Independent Foreign Fiction Prize. Read our review of the novel here.

  • The online Museum of Family History has a new exhibit on “The Remarkable Zalmen Zylbercweig,” editor of the six-volume “Lexicon of the Yiddish Theatre.”

  • Joseph Epstein reflects on his friendship with art critic Hilton Kramer in The New Criterion.

  • Frieda Vizel talks to David Assaf, scholar of Hasidic history, about contemporary Hasidism and whether a rebbe ever condemned him to Hell.

  • Who are the great literary roommates of history? Saul Bellow and Ralph Ellison, to start with.

  • The Evergreen Reviews pays tribute to its founder and longtime editor, Barney Rosset.

  • David P. Goldman writes about Michael Willens, grandson of Yiddish theater composers and head of one of Germany’s premiere chamber orchestras.

  • In the latest issue of the LABA Journal, Karen Loew chats with passersby at the corner of 14th Street and First Avenue in Manhattan, Elissa Strauss reflects on urban enlightenment and Stephen Hazan Arnoff writes about “A City Built on Rock and Roll.” Also make sure to check out the LABA Festival, happening this weekend at the 14th Street Y.

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