An aura of scepticism about the entire political process hangs about it: salutary some may say destructive according to others. (Miss Birdseye is an important figure in this respect: built up and knocked down as she is almost by fits and starts.) The book’s jaundiced view of what Verena calls ‘the Heart of humanity’ (chapter 28) – reform, progress and the liberal collectivism which seems so essential an ingredient in modern democracy – makes it contentious to this day. If its freshness, humour, physicality and political relevance all combine to make it a peculiarly accessible and enjoyable novel, it is also an upsetting and disturbing one, not simply in its treatment of Olive, but also of what she tries to stand for. But it is also a tragedy, and a moving one at that. It has been called a comedy and a satire – which it is. But the passage above suggests one other source of its unique quality. The last time they see one another, Jacob is past 80, sick, and frail.“The Bostonians is special because it never was ‘titivated’ for the New York edition, for its humour and its physicality, for its direct engagement with social and political issues and the way it dramatized them, and finally for the extent to which its setting and action involved the author and his sense of himself. By the time Asher is a young man, he is beginning to surpass Jacob artistically, and they drift apart. He is occasionally given to depressive slumps, especially when he thinks about past sufferings and his artistic limitations. Jacob is blunt, especially when it comes to warning Asher about the perils and challenges of the artistic world, but he has a tender heart. He quickly becomes a father figure to Asher, who visits his Manhattan studio throughout the year and spends summers with him and his wife, Tanya, through his teen years. He is 72 when Asher begins studying with him at age 13. When Asher first meets him, he has flowing white hair and a “walrus mustache.” Though he is not a religiously-observant Jew, he meets frequently with the Rebbe, and the Rebbe pairs him with Asher in the hope of directing Asher’s artistic passion. He fled Nazi persecution to the United States during the Second World War. Jacob Kahn is a famous sculptor who was once part of Picasso’s circle in Paris.
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