JEWISH LITERATURE LIVE:

Myla Goldberg may be a “freak of nature” as she describes herself. From meeting her earlier on Thursday, I certainly found her charming, witty, and quirky in the best possible way, so her self-labeling at her reading at the DCJCC was odd to me. Then again, Goldberg could be seen as a rarity within the book-publishing world. For although there are thousands of aspiring authors every year, she was one of the few who actually wrote her brilliant idea down and then broke through and successfully propelled a novel that combined spelling and mysticism into the National Bestseller list. Reaching such a high point at such a young age could be troubling; many authors find themselves at the sophomore slump by the time they are expected to publish again, but not Goldberg.

She did notice the theme of her next novel shifting. She has always described Bee Season as a deeply “personal” novel. Writing a personal novel can be very draining though. “There is a lot of introspection and self critique. It’s exhausting, you kind of run out of material,” she said. Putting it simply Goldberg said, “My second novel cannot be further from me than I can imagine,” she said. “I needed to get away from myself because I still wanted to write.” Set during the 1918 influenza epidemic, Wickett’s Remedy follows the story of a young Irish Catholic woman, who is clearly not Goldberg, but that was the point.

For Goldberg’s third book, she found herself getting personal again. Due out in October, her new novel was initially inspired by the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur. The idea that forgiveness can only be truly achieved by directly confronting people appealed to Goldberg. She said, “The book is about all that stuff we did when we were younger and didn’t know any better.” In this case, her protagonist was responsible for the death of a girl when she was a child and upon returning to apologize to the child’s town, she realizes that her memories are entirely different from everyone else.

The short story Goldberg read on Thursday night also focuses on childhood and small towns, but taking a note from her quirkiness, stems from her fascination with “small strange museums.” “That’ll Be Two Dollars and Fifty Cents, Please” is about a tiny town in Midwest attempting to capitalize on the death of a young child star who grew up there. But just as Bee Season is not just a simple story about spelling bees, this short story to be published in the March issue of Harper’s has a deeper theme. “It’s about the nature of ambition. Any artist aspires to be the absolute greatest in the world. This is my personal fascination in how far below I will fall on that mark,” she said. “Everyone peaks at different times. So what do you do if you were one of those people who peaked at eighteen?” The story is both humorous and heartbreaking. Goldberg weaves a fascinating narrative that slowly reveals details as it goes along. Her talent is exhibited once again as she unearths the obscurities within the seemingly “ordinary.”

JEWISH LITERATURE LIVE:

Myla Goldberg describes her first novel Bee Season as a “personal” novel, but do not mistake personal for autobiographical. The tale of young Eliza Naumann, a spelling prodigy and potential mystic, is not Goldberg’s own. “My first spelling bee was in fourth grade. I lost on the word ‘tomorrow,’” she said when she visited Jewish Literature Live on Thursday afternoon.

Eliza is not just a talented speller, but an ordinary Jewish girl navigating the rough waters of adolescence as exemplified by the spelling bee. This is where Goldberg was able to see her protagonist. After reading an article in a magazine, she realized what really fascinated her about spelling bees were the kids who did not win. Goldberg said, “We’re all losers. I’m a loser. I can relate to this.” However even with her initial connection to these children, Goldberg found herself doing a lot of research.

Her first plunge into the world of Eliza was actually attending the National Spelling Bee here. “The air was electric in there,” she said. “The kids do not know how to dissemble. Every emotion is so clear.” What Goldberg observed that day was not just kids spelling ridiculous words, but a greater reflection on American culture. “Everyone must be best at something and the spelling bee is a perfect reflection of this,” she said. One can see her initial draw to this culture, but how did Jewish mysticism get into the picture?

As it turns out, Goldberg is no stranger to the constant scramble students face in filling up their schedule at college. On a whim, she found herself in a Jewish mysticism course as an elective. Raised as a Reconstructionist Jew, Goldberg was unfamiliar with the ideas of Abraham Abulafia, a Jew who believed language held mystical properties. The connection between spelling and mysticism was natural to her. She said, “As an artist I have a belief of powers of the subconscious. My back brain remembered about Abulafia and it just fused in my head.” The book eventually focused on the themes of family, ritual, and rules as Goldberg wrote it.

Although Goldberg joked about the pile of rejections she received from every publishing company with her previous novels, this was her first published novel. The response to it was overwhelmingly positive, casting Goldberg as “the next big Jewish author.” She was honored by all of the attention, but maintains that she does not directly see herself as a Jewish author. “I don’t have a background with Jewish writers. It was not what I thought of as I was writing it,” she said.“I see it more of an American novel with the Jewish experience.” Goldberg is anti-label, but appreciates the reception of her writing. “My goal is to keep writing as long as possible, so anything that helps me do that is my friend,” she said.

However, Goldberg finds that the Jewish literature label is constricting. “Right now there is a far too narrow band applied to what is Jewish,” she said. Her second book is not about Jews, yet because she is a Jewish author, is it still a Jewish book to her. It is a label Goldberg is torn about. When forced to pick a label, she said, “I am a female writer, an American writer, a Jewish writer. I’m a writer.”

Goldberg is a writer of short stories, three books (the upcoming novel is due out in October), and a mother of two all since Bee Season. Clearly the novel has affected her life greatly, so has she thought of it much since? “I have not read this book since I finished it,” she said. “When I am done with something, I am done. I move on.” Where is Goldberg moving to next? Perhaps her writing process is an indication of her plans, too. “I do not actually know what’s going to happen yet. I usually go in A to K to Q, but something morphs at Q and it turns into a flying pig,” she said. “The cool thing about a book is that I have my own answer, but that is not a definitive answer.”

For more on Myla Goldberg, check back tomorrow for a recap of her reading at the DCJCC.

JEWISH LITERATURE LIVE

It may seem hard to believe, but your beloved blogger (at least I hope I am beloved) was not always so studious and interested in books (read infiltrating the English department). Back in the day, I was just another five year old who could not recite the alphabet or tie her shoes. My parents remember endless parent/teacher conferences where the words “unfocused” and “uninterested” were volleyed around. It seemed that the only things I cared about were the playground and watching television. Needless to say, when my fifth-grade teacher persisted in praising my leadership skills and effort, my parents were shocked. I guess fifth grade was the magical year for me as it appears to be for many others.

In Myla Goldberg’s Bee Season, young Eliza Naumann finally gets out of her television-rerun-watching stupor to succeed in the school’s annual spelling bee. Her father, Saul (a cantor always searching for God), has been waiting for years to see potential in his child and immediately starts quizzing Eliza for both their sakes. Eliza’s older brother, the “gifted and talented” Aaron, suddenly finds himself left out and at a loss for religion now that his one link to Judaism, his father, has abandoned him. You may be asking where their mother is? This is an intriguing question, for Miriam Naumann is an obsessive compulsive kleptomaniac who takes more interest in perfecting her world than being involved in the world of her children. All of these characters find themselves in the wake of the spelling bee chaos and slowly notice their world spinning out of control. It is a book where all of the characters tread a fine line between spiritual illumination and disillusionment.

Of course, when haphazardly summarized as done here, it is hard to really see the power of Goldberg’s subtly heartbreaking and beautiful writing. Even if we disagree with the characters’ motivations, we are able to fully see inside them. In a fantastically cinematic fashion, Goldberg introduces us to her protagonists and then carefully zooms into their lives: their pasts, their fears, their needs, and their relationship with God.

This is not just a book about some nerdy girl in a spelling bee, but about a once-functioning family dispersing and finding themselves flourishing and floundering. Although it can be painful to read the obvious mistakes of our four main characters, they are so intricate and real that we cannot help but see some of their reasoning. In class with Prof. Moskowitz today, we had a debate over who was the most sympathetic character. Answers ran the gamut, showing that each of us valued and took something different from this book. I know what initially sucked me in was my relation to Eliza, but as the book continued I found everything propelling me to the bittersweet ending. That is the work of a skilled and wonderful author and one that I am excited to meet on Thursday!

You can see Myla Goldberg too if you come to the DCJCC this Thursday, January 28 at 7:30pm. Tickets are $10, but students get in FREE with their student ID. A link to a map can be found here.

For more fun things on Goldberg and her novel:

-The book was made into a film in 2005 starring Richard Gere & Juliette Binoche.

-The indie rock band the Decemberists wrote a song about the novel called “Song for Myla Goldberg”

UPDATE (added by Prof. Gayle Wald 1/27/10): In other Jewish Literature Live news, the Washington Post ran a very appreciative review this morning of Rebecca Goldstein’s 36 Arguments for the Existence of God.