Interview with Ruth Wisse

Ruth Wisse is the Martin Peretz Professor of Yiddish Literature and Professor of Comparative Literature at Harvard University emerita. She is a fellow of the Tikvah Fund in New York.

Awful and Such Small Portions

Max Raskin: I obviously am going to ask someone who writes about humor if you have a go-to joke or a favorite joke.

Ruth Wisse: Well, that’s a very funny question. I wrote a book about Jewish humor, and on the basis of that book, I was invited to give a talk at Princeton. Afterwards, there was a wonderful reception, and I was…