Phoebe Maltz Bovy
@phoebebovy.bsky.social
https://phoebemaltzbovy.substack.com
Writing a book about straight women for PRH Canada. Opinion ed., The Canadian Jewish News, and contributor columnist, The Globe and Mail. Half of Feminine Chaos, host of The Jewish Angle: thecjn.ca/angle
Writing a book about straight women for PRH Canada. Opinion ed., The Canadian Jewish News, and contributor columnist, The Globe and Mail. Half of Feminine Chaos, host of The Jewish Angle: thecjn.ca/angle
Ha yes I figured. Same! I still found it a missed-opportunity article. Such compelling (to me at least) subject matter, and then a stance like he's swooping in to instruct Jewish novelists that they shouldn't do PR, while also pointing out that Jewish novelists were not doing PR.
November 11, 2025 at 3:46 PM
Ha yes I figured. Same! I still found it a missed-opportunity article. Such compelling (to me at least) subject matter, and then a stance like he's swooping in to instruct Jewish novelists that they shouldn't do PR, while also pointing out that Jewish novelists were not doing PR.
Recs as in literature I would agree. Recs as in, that Jewish novelists oughta start showing Jews in all our complexity including the negative, Jewish novelists *per the article* are already doing that and have been for ages.
November 11, 2025 at 3:44 PM
Recs as in literature I would agree. Recs as in, that Jewish novelists oughta start showing Jews in all our complexity including the negative, Jewish novelists *per the article* are already doing that and have been for ages.
Who is the author arguing against? The piece hovers between muddled and strawmannish.
November 11, 2025 at 3:43 PM
Who is the author arguing against? The piece hovers between muddled and strawmannish.
The opening doesn't make sense because it contradicts both familiar examples and examples *in the self-same article.*
November 11, 2025 at 3:42 PM
The opening doesn't make sense because it contradicts both familiar examples and examples *in the self-same article.*
We seem to have decided that the only stories worth telling are about adolescence or a slightly extended version of the same. This is limiting, and a focus solely on the cosmetic misses why.
November 11, 2025 at 3:40 PM
We seem to have decided that the only stories worth telling are about adolescence or a slightly extended version of the same. This is limiting, and a focus solely on the cosmetic misses why.
The things that jumped out to me about season 1 felt minor compared to the ones that did re: season 2. But it's less the content itself than the outside world.
November 11, 2025 at 1:56 AM
The things that jumped out to me about season 1 felt minor compared to the ones that did re: season 2. But it's less the content itself than the outside world.
Let fiction writers (not just fiction writers, but especially) write what they want! These aren't policy briefs.
November 10, 2025 at 7:48 PM
Let fiction writers (not just fiction writers, but especially) write what they want! These aren't policy briefs.
Anyway I am channelling my MANY thoughts about the piece and no not just its subhed into a word doc that is probably already sick of hearing from me on the matter.
November 10, 2025 at 7:45 PM
Anyway I am channelling my MANY thoughts about the piece and no not just its subhed into a word doc that is probably already sick of hearing from me on the matter.
But it's all related! If you would not assume that by virtue of being American, an artist would be a point person for analysis of MAGA, why would you assume that a *non-Israeli* Jewish artist would have profound words about Gaza?
November 10, 2025 at 4:19 PM
But it's all related! If you would not assume that by virtue of being American, an artist would be a point person for analysis of MAGA, why would you assume that a *non-Israeli* Jewish artist would have profound words about Gaza?
ALSO and I want to say most importantly: being a novelist or artist generally does not obligate you to have takes, nor does it bestow upon you intelligent ones.
November 10, 2025 at 4:16 PM
ALSO and I want to say most importantly: being a novelist or artist generally does not obligate you to have takes, nor does it bestow upon you intelligent ones.
I had hoped the headline was misleading. And while there's more to it, it's not misleading.
November 10, 2025 at 2:55 PM
I had hoped the headline was misleading. And while there's more to it, it's not misleading.
tl;dr of my 2024 but possibly still relevant column: acknowledging and atoning for one's own white privilege was a bummer. Left antisemitism is a way to make it so there's just one group of (mostly, conditionally) white people to blame for all of it.
November 10, 2025 at 2:42 PM
tl;dr of my 2024 but possibly still relevant column: acknowledging and atoning for one's own white privilege was a bummer. Left antisemitism is a way to make it so there's just one group of (mostly, conditionally) white people to blame for all of it.
November 10, 2025 at 2:39 PM