Subscribe now

We live in strange times. And I’m not saying that to bring you down. “Strange” isn’t necessarily bad. Here’s a strange thing that happened to me very recently:

An Israeli newspaper that’s been publishing my work for years asked me for a story having to do with the Gaza war, for a special literary issue they were preparing. I immediately sent in “Prickface,”* a story about loss and alienation that appeared here at Alphabet Soup a few months ago. The story is understated, but the title…not so much. And indeed, the editor loved the story but found the vulgar name problematic. If this had happened a decade ago, I think I would have put my foot down and stood up for my principles. But the past two years of bloodshed and senselessness in this simmering cauldron of war have cooked me into a far more tender, pliable frog. So instead of getting caught up in an endless argument, I decided to simply change the title to “Tradition”—an easily digestible name that, oddly, fits the story and also pays homage to my favorite song from Fiddler on the Roof. The change was an unexpected success, transforming a tough, painful story with a controversial title into something no less tough and painful, but, it turns out, a lot more palatable.

Read more