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BerlinBuenos Aires | Elsewhere | News
Buenos Aires Meets Berlin At Jewish Museum
by David Gutherz · 08/24/10
One of our founding principles here at Habitus is that the Diaspora is not only–as Ahad Ha-Am conceived of it–a web of roots strengthening the tree of some (material or spiritual) Jerusalem. It is also rhizome: a constantly shifting multiplicity of connections across and between several centers, several worlds. And so it is always with great pleasure that we hear of things like the current Bi-Centennial Celebration of Jewish Life in Argentina at the Jewish Museum of Berlin. Tracing the evolution of the Argentine Jewish community from the first recorded Jewish wedding in 1860 through to the present day, the exhibition employs a number of multimedia elements including a mesmerizing presentation of contemporary Argentine Jewish film. The guiding theme, however, is that most paradigmatic Jewish medium: The Book. At the “heart” of the exhibit lies “Book Store of Memories,” a collection of several hundred biographies that showcases the singular diversity and richness of Argentine-Jewish culture. Mirroring this celebratory monument, however, there is also the “Underground Library II,” a re-imagining of Israeli artist Micha Ullman’s memorial to Nazi book burnings. All in all, the exhibit goes far beyond its stated aim of “illustrating the integration of the Jewish community into Argentine society.” It is powerful homage to the continued vibrancy of Diaspora existence in general, and in Argentina and Germany specifically.
The exhibition runs through October 10th.
Moscow | Contributors | News | Tidbits
Habitus translator wins PEN grant
by Habitus · 06/21/10
Congratulations to our friend and collaborator Peter Golub, who has won a PEN translation grant for his work with Russian author Linor Goralik. Peter began this project as a commission for our Moscow issue. PEN says:
Peter Golub for a collection of flash fiction by Linor Goralik, an underground Russian author beginning to make a name for herself in the literary mainstream. These very short stories catch their characters in midflight, like strangers on an airplane, combining the mythic with the banal to startling effect, as when the wolf, disobeying doctor’s orders, steps out for one last visit to the three little pigs. (No publisher)
Publishers, take note!
Events | News
July 14: NYC event with André Aciman
by Habitus · 06/16/10
Is New York City the Diaspora?
A Conversation with Joshua Ellison and André Aciman
July 14, 7pm
Museum of Jewish Heritage
36 Battery Place
New York, NY
Join Habitus editor Joshua Ellison for a conversation with celebrated author André Aciman.
Together we will explore a provocative question: Is New York the Diaspora? With its enormous Jewish population, its creativity and culture, and its unparalleled array of options for Jewish living, should we really think of New York City as part of the Jewish Diaspora; or is it just another kind of homeland?
André Aciman has chronicled a life’s journey across continents and has also emerged as one of contemporary New York’s most astute literary observers. He writes: “New York is my home precisely because it is a place from which I can begin to be elsewhere…a shadow city.” We will talk to André about being a stranger at home in New York, about the place of the city in his recent work, and what it means to be a Jew here.
André Aciman is the author of Out of Egypt and, more recently, Call Me By Your Name and Eight White Nights. He is a Distinguished Professor in Comparative Literature at the Graduate Center of New York.
Joshua Ellison is the editor and founder of Habitus: A Diaspora Journal.
New Orleans | Contributors | News | Tidbits
Rodger Kamenetz on the Gulf oil spill
by Ekaterina Krasavina · 06/14/10
Rodger Kamenetz, the Louisiana-based author who described post-Katrina New Orleans in Habitus 04, continues to trace the city’s misfortunes. Five years ago when New Orleans was struck by the hurricane, it was the human factor that accounted for the graveness of the consequences. This time the disaster is man-made from the start, and the management of its consequences is no more effective than before. In his article for Tablet, Kamenetz compares the bureaucratic and political upheaval that followed the BP oil spill with the absurdist world of Franz Kafka.
He lived every day of his life with a persistent sense of doom—which in New Orleans in hurricane season is called watching the news. So, I think he would have had no trouble feeling his way into this hovering malevolent undersea black cloud of oil and dispersant waiting to strike. Meanwhile BP offers, for our entertainment and distraction, a dog-and-pony sideshow straight out of Kafka’s “A Hunger Artist.”
Kamenetz offers neither solution, nor salvation. Instead, he turns to a traditionally Jewish response in times of trouble:
It hurts so much it’s funny. In the land of disaster, even a bitter laugh is a start.
News
Internships available
by Habitus · 05/05/10
Habitus: A Diaspora Journal, a Jewish magazine of international literature, art, and culture, is looking for interns for the summer and fall.
The ideal candidate will be a student or recent graduate with a strong interest in Jewish culture, literary publishing, and international travel. The intern will participate broadly in the organization, including:
-Blogging
-Researching new writers and international cities
-Supporting staff at events
-Assisting with distribution and sales
-Contributing to the grant-seeking process
Our interns will be exposed to a wide range of literary and cultural opportunities, participate in exciting events, learn many intricacies of the publishing business, and encounter writers and artists from around the world.
The internship is part-time (flexible hours) and unpaid. Our offices are in Gowanus, Brooklyn. Please send resume and CV to jobs (at)habitusmag.com. No phone calls, please.
News
Support us by shopping at Amazon
by Habitus · 10/08/09
You can help the journal just by shopping at Amazon. Use this link whenever you shop, and Habitus will get a percentage of your purchase, no matter what you buy! It’s as easy as that.
For recommendations, you can also visit our Amazon store for further reading.
Thanks for your help!
News
Habitus @NYPL: the Podcast
by Joshua Ellison · 08/11/09
On June 9th, Habitus participated in CLMP‘s “Periodically Speaking” series at the New York Public Library. Mariya Gusrev read her translation of Leonid Kostyukov’s short story that will soon appear in Habitus 05: Moscow. Thanks, as always, to CLMP for including us, and for their leadership in independent publishing.
The podcast from the event has just been posted, so listen here.
