But today we become aware of other readings of the human experience very quickly because of the media and the speed with which people travel the planet.

My name is Asher Lev... I am a traitor, an apostate, a self-hater, an inflicter of shame upon my family, my friends, my people; also, I am a mocker of ideas sacred to Christians, a blasphemous manipulator of modes and forms revered by Gentiles for two thousand years.

Yes, there is some thought about making a film of My Name Is Asher Lev.

It is impossible to fuse totally with a culture for which you feel a measure of antagonism.

Each generation thinks it fights new battles. But the battles are the same. Only the people are different.

I won't talk to you about my family and you won't talk to me about yours. Family talk is either boring or self-pitying. Or it's Gothic, like a Faulkner novel. Who needs to talk about it? It's enough to live it.

To the extent that I come from a deeply religious tradition and have been contending with those beginnings all of my life - that constitutes the subject of much of my early fiction.