When Nathan Englander published his first collection of short stories (For the Relief of Unbearable Urges), in 1999, he drew comparisons to Roth, Bellow, and Joyce. Here was a young (age: 29) unknown, a former yeshiva-educated Orthodox Jew who had abandoned his religious training even while mining it with literary flair, and he had reportedly snared a rare six-figure advance. Fans salivated and clamored for a novel; eight years later, The Ministry of Special Cases is worth the wait. Set in 1976 during Argentina’s “Dirty War,” the novel tells of one family’s Kafkaesque nightmare, through Englander’s unique combination of pathos, humor, and intelligence. Victoria Lautman chats with Englander.
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