Melvin Jules Bukiet ran into some unexpected heckling as he was introducing Israeli authors Etgar Keret and David Grossman to the 92nd Street Y audience Monday night. He was extemporizing on the idea that Israel's turbulent history is a contributing factor in the formation of its rich literary roster; "after all," he quipped, "can you name a single author from Monaco?" At which point Thane Rosenbaum, sitting off to the side, stage-whispered, "Princess Grace!" Ignoring the jape, Bukiet moved on: "And apart from Margaret Atwood, are there really any Canadian writers?" I confess that I couldn't resist blurting out a "Mordecai Richler!" of my own then...

Anyway, after the two authors had read and discussed their work, fellow audience member Pearl Abraham took me backstage to meet Bukiet and talk about Scribblers on the Roof, Persea's forthcoming collection of work by Jewish-American authors, many of whom have participated in a reading series at the Upper West Side synagogue Ansche Chesed. One of the stories to watch out for, Bukiet advised, was a Cynthia Ozick piece called "Stone" which has apparently never been reprinted since its first appearance about fifty years ago. It's her imagining of what might have happened to a statue of Muhammad that used to stand with a set of other great lawgivers throught history at the State Appellate Division courthouse on Madison Square until it was removed in 1955, when authorities wised up to the fact that Islam forbids images of the Prophet. Bukiet lobbied hard for permission to include "Stone" in the collection, ultimately adding a passage to his introduction acknowledging that Ozick herself considers it a minor work at best.