ANYONE who has read Rebecca Goldstein鈥檚 novels knows her remarkable knack for combining abstract philosophical ideas with the all-too-concrete dramas of everyday life. In 36 Arguments she has done it again.
The story begins with Cass Seltzer, a psychologist of religion, being thrust into the spotlight after the publication of his book The Varieties of Religious Illusion. Considered an antidote to the Dawkins鈥檚 of the world, Cass is the 鈥渁theist with a soul鈥�. His understanding of religious experience is a nuanced one, honed from years of living as an exiled Hasidic Jew and from studies under a religious philosopher.
At first Cass is an annoyingly hapless character, until we realise that his haplessness is that of humanity in the face of the 鈥渢remendousness of our improbable existence鈥�. For while Goldstein鈥檚 recipe at times seems two parts philosophy and only one part storytelling, the novel is ultimately one about what Cass鈥檚 mentor calls psychopoiesis, or 鈥渟oul-making鈥�.
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From Cass鈥檚 girlfriend, Lucinda, who has to choose between her own career and living in Cass鈥檚 shadow, to Azarya, the mathematical prodigy who has to choose between life as a Hasidic leader and the pursuit of genius, Goldstein鈥檚 characters struggle to define themselves and carve out meaning in a seemingly meaningless universe.
Goldstein is, as always, a lovely and thoughtful writer. Her respect and understanding for her characters might well earn her the epithet 鈥減hilosophical novelist with a soul鈥�.
Pantheon