Ear­li­er this week Stu­art Rojs­tacz­er wrote about why he con­sid­ers him­self a Jew­ish writer. Today he talks with his moth­er about his recent­ly pub­lished debut nov­el, The Math­e­mati­cian’s Shi­va. He has been blog­ging here all week for Jew­ish Book Coun­cil’s Vis­it­ing Scribe series

Scene: The kitchen of Mrs. Rachel Rojs­tacz­er. She has a thick man­u­script in a three-ring binder open on the kitchen table. She’s drink­ing tea out of a glass and read­ing when her son, Stu­art, walks in with a toolbox.

Stu­art: Hi Mom. I just came by to fix the kitchen sink. It won’t take much time.

You read­ing my novel?

Rachel: Read­ing it? I fin­ished it. Now I’m think­ing about it (fin­ger­ing through the pages a bit).

Stu­art: And?

Rachel: Sit down. 

(Stu­art sits down at the kitchen table across from his moth­er wait­ing to hear the news. He’s giv­en his moth­er the man­u­script so that she can kvell, not so that he can hear crit­i­cism; but he knows that crit­i­cism comes with the ter­ri­to­ry.)

Rachel: This nov­el, The Mathematician’s Shi­va. I have a prob­lem with this book. With the main char­ac­ter in fact. A big problem.

Stu­art: And what is it?

Rachel: The char­ac­ter, Rachela Karnokovitch. It’s me. It’s a copy of me. A car­bon copy. And you’ve killed her off. Dead from can­cer. Do I look dead to you?

Stu­art: It’s not you, Mom. The char­ac­ter is 100 per­cent made up. Honest.

Rachel: Oh real­ly. It isn’t me. Tun nicht zan a lign­er, Shtule­lah. Ich bin don mameh, nicht a lal­ka un a kop. (Don’t think you can lie to me, Stu­art. I’m your moth­er, not a bimbo.)

Stu­art: Red Eng­lish mameh. (Speak Eng­lish, mother.)

Rachel: Red Eng­lish? The cam­era­man can put in sub­ti­tles after, davkah. Mr. Cam­era­man, you know how to do subtitles?

Cam­era­man (not vis­i­ble): Of course, Mrs. Rojs­tacz­er. We can do what­ev­er you want.

Rachel (to Stu­art): See. I knew it. Now, vie ben ich giveyn. Oh yeah, the char­ac­ter is not me? What’s her name?

Stu­art: Roochela.

Rachela. Right. Same as me. Where she was born?

Stu­art: Vladimir Volyn­sk, Poland.

Rachel. Right. Six­ty kilo­me­ters from where I was born. Your father’s town. And where was this Roochela dur­ing the war?

Stu­art: In Vorku­ta, near the Bar­ents Sea.

Rachel: Right. In a Russ­ian work camp, like me. Not in Koly­ma, like me, but fur­ther north. Why did you put me there anyway?

Stu­art: I need­ed it to be near the ocean.

Rachel: OK, so you make me born in your father’s home­town. You tell every­one my exact age. You put me in Vorku­ta dur­ing the war. You make me into a genius math­e­mati­cian who stud­ies in Moscow, defects, teach­es in the Unit­ed States, solves Dilbert’s Problems…

Stu­art: It’s Hilbert’s Sixth Prob­lem Mom, not Dilbert’s Problems.

Rachel: Like any­one will know the dif­fer­ence and don’t inter­rupt me. I solve this hun­dred-year-old prob­lem, Dil­bert, Hilbert…

Stu­art: That’s the rumor, mameh, that you solved it. Hold on, I didn’t mean to say you. It’s not you. She’s made up. The char­ac­ter is made up.

Rachel: I said don’t inter­rupt me. Not your moth­er. It’s rude. I am rumored to have solved a hun­dred-year-old prob­lem, but I won’t reveal it to any­one. And then you kill me off? Your own moth­er, you give can­cer and you kill off in a nov­el? It’s a misha­gos what you’ve done! Who is going to buy such a book? Who is going to pub­lish it?

Stu­art: It’s already been sold, mameh. I was going to tell you today. Sur­prise you after I was done with the kitchen sink. Pen­guin Books bought it.

Rachel: Pen­guin Books bought it? When was this?

Stu­art: Last week. I was wait­ing to get the let­ter to show it to you. I got it yesterday. 

Rachel: Inter­est­ing. What’s this about the mon­ey in the letter?

Stu­art: They pay you an advance before they pub­lish the book. 

Rachel: You don’t have to give it back no mat­ter what?

Stu­art: No, I don’t have to give it back. I’m going to use it to remod­el the bathroom.

Rachel: That’s a good idea. You should have done it years ago. The pipes rat­tle. Is there going to be a movie?

Stu­art: A movie of the book?

Rachel: Yeah, I’m think­ing about it. You write a nov­el. A good nov­el. I’m proud of you even if you did kill me off. They need to make a movie ver­sion. War And Peace. Gone With the Wind. There’s always a movie.

Stu­art: Maybe. I don’t know.

Rachel: Not maybe. Def­i­nite­ly. There’s going to be a movie ver­sion. You sign the con­tract yet?

Stu­art: Not yet. You know how lawyers are. It takes weeks.

Rachel: Good, because I’m think­ing. Who’s going to play me in the movie ver­sion? I want a say. Who could play me? Hmm. I know just the actress. Meryl Streep. You put it in the con­tract. If they make a movie, Rachela must be played by Meryl Streep. The lady can act. And classy, too. Now she could do me justice. 

Stu­art Rojs­tacz­er was born in Mil­wau­kee, Wis­con­sin, where he was edu­cat­ed in pub­lic and Ortho­dox Jew­ish schools. For many years, he was a pro­fes­sor of geo­physics at Duke Uni­ver­si­ty. He has been a Kar­ma Foun­da­tion Annu­al Short Sto­ry Final­ist and a Nation­al Sci­ence Foun­da­tion Young Inves­ti­ga­tor. He has writ­ten for The New York Times and Wash­ing­ton Post, and his sci­en­tif­ic research has appeared in both Sci­ence and Nature. He lives with his wife in north­ern California.

Relat­ed Content:

Stu­art Rojs­tacz­er was born in Mil­wau­kee, Wis­con­sin, where he was edu­cat­ed in pub­lic and Ortho­dox Jew­ish schools. For many years, he was a pro­fes­sor of geo­physics at Duke Uni­ver­si­ty. He has been a Kar­ma Foun­da­tion Annu­al Short Sto­ry Final­ist and a Nation­al Sci­ence Foun­da­tion Young Inves­ti­ga­tor. He has writ­ten for The New York Times and Wash­ing­ton Post, and his sci­en­tif­ic research has appeared in both Sci­ence and Nature. He lives with his wife in north­ern California.