SOURCE: "In the Night Kitchen," in Nation, Vol. 202, No. 18, May 6, 1996, pp. 11-12, 14-16.

[Berman is an American educator, author, and critic. In the following review, he offers praise for A Lifetime Burning in Every Moment.]

As the twentieth century ends, New York Jewish intellectuals are finally getting some goyishe naches: great prizes, triumphal banquets and conferences while they live, splendid memorial services when they die, page-one obits and reviews. I've been to many of these banquets. The guest of honor says he's being misunderstood, he's a much more difficult character than people think. They know it's true, it only makes them cheer more. Another thing about these tributes: They nearly always come too late. People like Alfred Kazin, Irving Howe, Meyer Schapiro, Henry Roth, Grace Paley, are celebrated in old age or after death by mass media that ignored or denounced them at the height of their powers...