Ann S. Epstein Writer

If a Tree Falls in the Forest …

Reviewing Lost in the Valley of Death, a biography of trekker Justin Alexander Shetler, Michael Paterniti considers the inherent contradiction of a solitary seeker compelled to write about his exploits on social media, and asks “the most telling spiritual question: If you don’t post about a profound experience, did it really happen?” (The New York Times Book Review, 02/13/22). I pondered the literary corollary, “If you don’t send your manuscript into the world, are you really a writer?” which is akin to “What’s the difference between a job and a hobby?” I’d say the latter is solely for personal satisfaction whereas the former also entails an external reward — publication, good reviews, reader appreciation, even (least likely) income. I called myself a writer only after I began submitting my work. Were I to stop, would I no longer use that label? Or, once a writer, always a writer? Ditto an artist. “Writer” and “artist” are the jobs I list on my tax returns, whereas “developmental psychologist” disappeared after I retired in 2015. Life has enough unnecessary dichotomies that I hope never to be faced with “hobby versus vocation.” For more thoughts about the literary life, see REFLECTIONS.

What makes an event, or a creative act, real?

Why writers write: “To survive, you must tell stories.” – Umberto Eco

Bad Dad Tale: Ha-Ha! (It Hurts)

Frank Conroy’s hilarious memoir Stop Time portrays an insane father, grifting stepfather, and ambivalent mother. Conroy raises himself, but beneath his funny-man exterior, the scars run deep. For the story of another bad dad who leaves scars, read The Great Stork Derby, based on an actual contest in which a husband pressures his wife to have babies for cash and, fifty years later, learns the true meaning of fatherhood. Learn more about the book in NOVELS.

Toronto, 1926: A husband pressures his wife to have babies for a large cash prize

Silencing Female Novelists: Jewish and Others

Novels by female Jewish immigrants, many written a century ago, are largely unknown. As noted in a New York Times article “How Yiddish Scholars Are Rescuing Women’s Novels From Obscurity”, Yiddish works by men such as Sholem Aleichem and Isaac Bashevis Singer were translated and popularized, but publishers dismissed women’s fiction as insignificant or unmarketable. Fortunately, a growing body of translations is being produced by Jewish feminist scholars who scroll the microfilms of bygone Yiddish newspapers and periodicals where the novels were serialized, and comb through archived card catalogs for women who were poets or diarists to see if they were also novelists. Scholars hope the newly translated novels will enrich the teaching of Yiddish — the mamaloshen or mother tongue — and provide this missing perspective. Alas, bias in the publishing industry hasn’t changed. The voices of women, especially those from diverse backgrounds, are still under-represented compared to men (roughly 30% to 70%). For more thoughts on writing and the literary world, see REFLECTIONS.

A century later, Yiddish female novelists are being translated, published, and heard

Why writers write: “Every secret of a writer’s soul, every experience of his life, every quality of his mind, is written large in his works.” – Virginia Woolf

Learn History Through Fiction: Beatle Meets Munchkin

On February 9, 1964 at 8 PM EST, 73 million people watched the BEATLES on The Ed Sullivan Show. Later that night, RINGO STARR met the actor who played the MUNCHKIN CORONER in The Wizard of Oz at Grossinger’s Hotel in the Catskills, where the Munchkins were holding their 25th reunion. REALLY? To find out, read A Brain. A Heart. The Nerve., a fictional biography of the actor Meinhardt Raabe. Learn more about the book in NOVELS.

America meets the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show

Fictional biography of the actor who played the Munchkin Coroner in The Wizard of Oz

What I’m Reading: Small Forgotten Moments

My Goodreads and Amazon review of Small Forgotten Moments by Annalisa Crawford (Rating 5) – Relentless, Intense, Vivid. Annalisa Crawford’s novel Small Forgotten Moments is the story of Jo, a young artist plagued by an elusive character named Zenna whose image unconsciously dominates her work. Who is this mysterious child-woman, endearing one day, menacing the next? Jo, an amnesiac whose memory goes back no farther than three years, is desperate to find out. So is the reader. In describing Jo’s frustrating and frightening journey to unravel this knot, Crawford’s writing is as fearless as a gothic horror tale. She vividly evokes the hole of amnesia, a demon’s relentless drive, death by drowning, and the omnipotence of a child’s magical thinking. As a fiction writer myself (see my Amazon author page and Goodreads author page), I admire Crawford’s courage and willingness to make readers squirm. Withholding spoilers, I can say that Zenna’s identity is at once surprising and, given the deftly placed clues, inevitable. Though Jo’s case is freakish, Small Forgotten Moments is ultimately about the universal need to break free of whatever haunts us.

Writing as fearless as a gothic horror tale

Why writers read: “Books taught me that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected me with all the people who had ever been alive.” – James Baldwin

Bad Dad Tale: Your Command is My Wish

Abraham in the Old Testament is ready to sacrifice his son Isaac when God orders him to do so as a test of faith. An angel intervenes at the last minute and Isaac, bound on the altar, is freed and replaced by a ram. Some commentators excuse Abraham, saying he knew God wouldn’t really make him kill his son. But Isaac wasn’t clued in and grew up traumatized. Read about another bad dad in The Great Stork Derby, based on an actual contest in which a husband pressures his wife to have babies for cash and, fifty years later, learns the true meaning of fatherhood. Learn more about the book in NOVELS.

Learn History Through Fiction: Food Fight

Peanut butter became an American kitchen staple during World War I when people were encouraged to substitute peanuts for beef and pork so that meat could instead be sent to the troops fighting overseas. When the war ended, people gladly crossed peanut loaf and peanut soup off the menu, but peanut butter has remained a favorite for over a century. Read more about what people ate during WWI, including a teenager who lies about his name and age to escape his immigrant Jewish family and join the navy in On the Shore. Learn more about the book in NOVELS.

This spreadable plant protein first became popular as a meat substitute during WWI

An immigrant boy lies about his name and age to fight in WWI

Bad Dad Tale: Criminal Intent

Molly Brodak’s memoir Bandit describes a father who was a bank robber, gambler, and gaslighter. Brodak grew up not trusting the truth of memoirs, making readers suspicious of hers. Is this a baffling or an effective literary device? You judge. For the story of another bad dad, read The Great Stork Derby, based on an actual contest in which a husband pressures his wife to have babies for cash and, fifty years later, learns the true meaning of fatherhood. Read more about the book in NOVELS.

A trustworthy book about an untrustworthy father

Bad Dad Tale: Model Citizen; Malevolent Papa

Eugene, the father in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus, a story about post-colonial Nigeria, is a respected Catholic businessman, praised for his big heart and community activism, who beats his family mercilessly. For the story of another bad dad, read The Great Stork Derby, based on an actual 1926 Toronto contest in which a husband pressures his wife to have babies for cash and, fifty years later, learns the true meaning of fatherhood. Read more about the book in NOVELS.

Purple Hibiscus is a Nigerian novel about post-colonial politics and paternal cruelty

Learn History Through Fiction: The Final Solution 80 Years Ago

On January 20, 1942, 15 Nazi officials met in a villa on Lake Wannsee on the western edge of Berlin. They nibbled snacks and drank cognac. According to minutes taken by Adolf Eichmann, the agenda contained one item: “The organizational, logistical and material steps for a final solution of the Jewish question in Europe.” Planning the Holocaust took them only 90 minutes. All told, they planned to kill eleven million Jews, not only in Europe, but also the Soviet Union, England, Ireland, and Switzerland. Learn more in my forthcoming novel, One Person’s Loss (Vine Leaves Press, September 2022), about a young Jewish couple who flee from Germany to the U.S. just before the Holocaust, but during the war, the husband returns to Berlin as a spy for the OSS and hides a transmitter inside the handle of a water pitcher used to eavesdrop at Wannsee. Read more about One Person’s Loss and my other historical fiction in NOVELS.