Missing Time: Essays

by Ari M. Brostoff

Over the past few years, in essays published in n+1, Jewish Currents, and elsewhere, Ari M. Brostoff has grappled with the intellectual upheavals and political contradictions that surfaced during the Trump era. After the breaking point of the 2016 election, Brostoff writes, “the world came back into hideous focus” and they began to feel, for the first time, “like a long-term inhabitant of the present.” Missing Time collects five remarkable essays and a new introduction that trace the return of the 20th century’s political and cultural repressed in personal and collective terms. In prose that is simultaneously sharp and soulful, mournful and ecstatic, Brostoff offers lucid considerations of the reemergent millennial left, the enigmas of the X-Files, the complexities of Philip Roth’s (anti-)Zionism, and other novelties, atavisms, and atavisms newly reborn as novelties. From the communist ardor of the Bronx circa 1940 to the ’90s haze of the San Fernando Valley to a Brooklyn apartment building’s tenants’ association in the midst of a global pandemic, Missing Time collapses past and present into a revelatory encounter with very recent history.

Genres: Essays, Nonfiction, Sociology

134 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2022

About the author

Ari M. Brostoff is the culture editor of Jewish Currents.

Reviews

[Elizabeth]

very smart and well-written… excited to see what comes next from this promising new voice etc etc i gave a copy to my little brother and said “this will make you cool”

[Nils Jepson · Rating 4 out of 5]

really really beautiful collection of 5 essays. i think the last 3 essays, on jewishness and anti-zionism and the conservative takeover of the religion, are some of the most clarifying I've ever read (especially as an outsider.) sometimes thought the issues circled around their arguments, instead of bending their whole body into them, but still learned a ton!

[D · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating set of essays that unfortunately already feel dated/quaint/redolent of an era in which it seemed like Trump might have just one term, and the simpler pre 10/7 phase of anti-Zionist Jewish thought. This is no fault of Bostoff’s—excellent, thoughtful writing—it’s just the reality of how far we’ve fallen since 2023.

[Ari Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful collection of essays that are extremely relevant. I find myself discussing his essays regularly. They range from communism and being Jewish to the X-Files (which I am now watching) and feminism.

[chase · Rating 5 out of 5]

often hilarious, sometimes steamy. i loved this little book and felt the need to savor it. brostoff’s prose is playful and sticky, and their candor left me feeling a little naked, but none the worse for it.

[Vincent Mollica]

❤️

[Sophia]

small but well-written collection of essays. the reflections on modern jewish life in america were the most interesting to me and i plan to read more of brostoff's writing in the future.

[Wendy Liu · Rating 5 out of 5]

<3