After publishing her essay collection People Love Dead Jews, Dara Horn found her inbox flooded with messages from readers about their own experiences of anti-semitism. She realized that her readers wanted her to come up with an answer to all the problems she had raised. Her response is in her latest book, The Final Solution to the Jewish Question: A Love Story for the Living. In this conversation, Dara explains why reading Yiddish works are critical to understanding the Holocaust. We also discuss the internalized antisemitism that both she and Sarah Hurwitz explore in their latest works, what she’s learned from Natan Sharansky, and how we should teach about Judaism as an anti-tyrannical movement.
Dara Horn is the award-winning author of seven books, including the novels The World to Come, All Other Nights, the graphic novel One Little Goat and the essay collection People Love Dead Jews: Reports from a Haunted Present. Dara Horn is also the recipient of three National Jewish Book Awards, among many other honors.
Regular listeners might notice that this is Dara’s second time on the show! We were delighted to talk to Dara about her book One Little Goat last April. If you haven’t yet heard it, you can go back to Dara’s first episode on the show and hear her talk about Tevye the Dairyman by Sholom Aleichem and Mr. Mani by A B Yehoshua.
Dara Horn’s Five Books:
1.A book that inspired, informed, or is in conversation with your latest work:
As a Jew by Sarah Hurwitz2. A book you changed your mind about – one you once loved, misunderstood, or now see differently:
See Under: Love by David Grossman
3. A line or passage from a book that you think about often or that changed your worldview:
From Natan Sharansky's memoir Fear No Evil, "No one else can humiliate me. I can only humiliate myself."
4. The book you're reading now:
Arrow in the Blue by Arthur Koestler
5. Your latest book:
The Final Solution to the Jewish Question: A Love Story for the Living
Other Episodes You Might Enjoy:
Dara Horn on Being the Lorax at Her Seder Table
Sarah Hurwitz on Reclaiming Our Jewish Story
Matti Friedman on the Stories that Built a People
Sharon Brous on Working to Mend Our Broken Hearts and World
Also Mentioned:
Anti-Judaism by David Nirenberg
Gentleman’s Agreement (film)
Postwar Stories: How Books Made Judaism American by Rachel Gordan
“The Golden Age of American Jews is Ending” by Franklin Foer
The Last Consolation Vanished by Zalmen Gradowski
Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler
Thieves in the Night by Arthur Koestler
Blood Libel: On the Trail of an Antisemitic Myth by Magda Teter
The Tell Institute
The Five Books is a podcast that celebrates the role of books in Jewish culture. Through author interviews, we delve into Jewish identity and discover each author’s favorite novels. Join us every week for new Jewish book recommendations! Some of our episodes have included conversations with Rabbi Sharon Brous, Sam Sussman, Rabbi Angela Buchdahl and Allegra Goodman.
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