The Rabbi of Lud

by Stanley Elkin, Chirs Lehmann (Introduction)

Overview

Surrounded by cemeteries in the flatlands of New Jersey, the small town of Lud is sustained by the business of death. In fact, with no synagogue and no congregation, Rabbi Jerry Goldkorn has only one true responsibility: to preside over burial services for Jews who pass away in the surrounding cities. But after the Arctic misadventures that led him to Lud, he wouldn't want to live (or die) anywhere else.

As the only living child in Lud, his daughter Connie has a different opinion of this grisly city, and she will do anything to get away from it—or at least liven it up a bit. Things get lively indeed when Connie testifies to meeting the Virgin Mary for a late-night romp through the local graveyards.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781564782700
Publisher:	Deep Vellum Publishing
Publication date:	05/01/2001
Series:	American Literature
Edition description:	1ST DALKEY
Pages:	277
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.80(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Stanley Elkin (1930-1995) was an award-winning author of novels, short stories, and essays. Born in the Bronx, Elkin received his BA and PhD from the University of Illinois and in 1960 became a professor of English at Washington Universityin St. Louis where he taught until his death. His critically acclaimed works include the National Book Critics Circle Award-winners "George Mills" (1982) and "Mrs. Ted Bliss" (1995), as well as the National Book Award finalists "The Dick Gibson Show" (1972), "Searches and Seizures "(1974), and "The MacGuffin" (1991). His book of novellas, "Van Gogh's Room at Arles", was a finalist for the PEN Faulkner Award.

Editorial Reviews

"[Elkin] defies death with a glistening tale that is laugh-out-loud hilarious as well as poignant." -- PW

Dalkey Archive Press

From the Publisher

Elkin ``defies death with a glistening tale that is laugh-out-loud hilarious as well as poignant,'' praised PW . He introduces a ``voluble, acerbically witty and deliciously irreverent'' rabbi whose business is officiating at the funerals of people he has never met in the necropolis of Lud, N.J. (October)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

This is typical Elkin, a blackly humorous character study very ethnic in tone. Jerry Goldkorn, who barely made it though his own bar mitzvah, is the rabbi of Lud, New Jersey, noted primarily for its many cemeteries. Indeed, the rabbi's chief function is to preside at the funerals of people he never knew. He clearly recognizes the basic absurdity of his role but seems content with his lot. Not so his daughter, who rebels by claiming to talk with the ``Holy Mother'' and St. Myra Weiss, patron saint of kids whose dads get transferred. In a lengthy digression dealing with the rabbi's leave in Alaska, one senses that Elkin somehow lost his way. The book has its moments but in the end leaves one feeling a bit unsatisfied. David W. Henderson, Eckerd Coll. Lib., St. Petersburg, Fla.

Library Journal