Lynn Levin | The Smart Set

The Lark

Lynn Levin — Mon, 18 May 2020 11:30:15 +0000

On a warm and sunny March afternoon, as green began to brush the grass and trees, days before updated coronavirus restrictions — who could anticipate how quickly rules would change? — kept everyone in their own digs, I took a short field trip to the Bucks County, Pennsylvania mansion built by the comedian Joan Rivers. […]

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Prevalent Protagonists

Lynn Levin — Fri, 18 Jan 2019 14:13:01 +0000

A master of the American short story, Richard Burgin has, over the years, haunted us with a range of lonely, neurotic, occasionally criminal, yet weirdly sympathetic characters. Now in A Thousand Natural Shocks, we have a collection of Burgin’s greatest hits plus a few new tales, thanks to the astute selections of editor Joseph D. […]

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The Dark Lady Ryan

Lynn Levin — Thu, 04 Jan 2018 12:20:43 +0000

In Dark Ladies & Other Avatars, her debut poetry collection, Joan Roberta Ryan pays exquisite attention to seeing, eating, feeling, reflecting, and remembering — acts of attention that define what it means to live fully and well. Lit up by sparkling specificity and wit, these beautifully crafted, mostly free verse poems focus on both lovely […]

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On the Question of Shlomo Sand

Lynn Levin — Thu, 20 Oct 2016 12:00:01 +0000

I have read with dismay Jessa Crispin’s interview with Shlomo Sand, the anti-Jewish Jew (he renounced his religion in his book How I Stopped Being a Jew) and the anti-Israel Israeli (as he details in this interview). The animus he bears toward Judaism and Israel vies with that of non-Jewish anti-Semites who seek to deny […]

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Splitting Hares

Lynn Levin — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 16:12:43 +0000

When I was a student at Northwestern University during the mid 1970s, my father visited Chicago for medical conferences a couple times a year. On these occasions, he would make it a point to treat me to dinner at a white tablecloth place downtown — usually $$$ in the AAA Tourbook. I would take […]

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How to Eat a Pet

Lynn Levin — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 16:12:43 +0000

I have been known to eat foods that others snub. As a student, I lived off back-of-the-store, reduced-price vegetables and fruits. Day-or-more-old muffins and danish were a treat. My best company dish was a cheap and tasty enchilada casserole that I made with chicken necks and backs. So it was only natural I should one […]

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