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Letters to the Editor

by Gabriella Edelstein, Patricia Clarke, Jenny Esots, John Seymour, Margaret Knight and David Mason •
November 2022, no. 448

Letters to the Editor

by Gabriella Edelstein, Patricia Clarke, Jenny Esots, John Seymour, Margaret Knight and David Mason •
November 2022, no. 448

noun Letter 862038 000000Want to write a letter to ABR? Send one to us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

Sticking with Mel Brooks

Dear Editor,

Don Anderson’s review of Howard Jacobson’s memoir, Mother’s Boy, had some very funny lines (t/rope!), and I’m all for a final flourish, but it is unclear what the last sentence is implying (ABR, July 2022). Is it a joke insinuating that Jews are over-sensitive about anti-Semitism? That Jews are allowed to be over-sensitive if they are witty and artful in their paranoia? That Jacobson construed any disagreement with him during his time at the University of Sydney as anti-Semitism? That they are too many Jews in academia? Or that academics hate Jews?

I’ll stick with Mel Brooks for my Jewish jokes.

Gabriella Edelstein (online comment)

From the New Issue

Comment (1)

  • Two online commentators myself included called out the trite and superficial nature of Clare Monagle's piece of writing on the monarchy, but you chose to print a letter which expressly attempts to charactise the writing as possessing 'verve and wit'. Is that an example of the editor having the last word?
    Posted by Patrick Hockey
    11 November 2022