The Rabbi of Lud
Dallas, Texas: Dalkey Archive Press, 2001. First Dalkey Archive Edition, Presumed first printing thus. Trade paperback. Pencil erasure residue at top of first page. Originally published by Scribner's in 1987. 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 Goldkorm 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 little. Things get lively indeed when Connie testifies to meeting the Virgin Mary for a late-night romp through the local graveyards. There is always in Elkin's work the understanding that however recklessly we behave, life is to be cherished. Stanley Lawrence Elkin (May 11, 1930 – May 31, 1995) was an American novelist, short story writer, and essayist. His extravagant, satirical fiction revolves around American consumerism, popular culture, and male–female relationships. During his career, Elkin published ten novels, two volumes of novellas, two books of short stories, a collection of essays, and one (unproduced) screenplay. Elkin's work revolves about American pop culture, which it portrays in innumerable darkly comic variations. Elkin won the National Book Critics Circle Award on two occasions: for George Mills in 1982 and for Mrs. Ted Bliss, his last novel, in 1995. More