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🇳🇴 Norway /Culture & Society

Woody Allen Keeps Going, This Time in Book Form

From Aftenposten · () Norwegian

Translated from Norwegian and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

In-depth Named sources Context piece
  • Woody Allen made his literary debut last year at age 89 with the novel “What’s With Baum?”
  • The book follows Asher Baum, an unsuccessful, middle-aged Jewish New York writer who is also a neurotic hypochondriac.
  • Reviewer Erlend Loe says the protagonist closely resembles the recurring character Allen has built throughout his career.

Woody Allen made his debut as a novelist last year at the age of 89 with “What’s With Baum?” The book contains familiar elements from many of the 50 films that established his career.

The story centers on Asher Baum, an unsuccessful, middle-aged Jewish writer from New York who, unsurprisingly, is also a neurotic hypochondriac. Reviewer and author Erlend Loe writes that Allen has built his life’s work around variations of this character, one readers have long understood to be closely connected to Allen himself.

As making films has become more difficult for him, Allen has turned to literature. The review identifies the novel as an enjoyable continuation of recognizable themes from his cinematic work.

About this summary

Originally published by Aftenposten in Norwegian. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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