Howl by Howard Jacobson review a tragicomic portrait of a Jewish man's despair

"Howard Jacobson writes characters at their wits' end; those characters are usually men, and those men are usually Jewish. Additionally, and problematically for both them and everyone around them, their collective wits are capacious: easily enlarged to allow idiosyncrasy to bloom into neurosis, preoccupation into obsession."

"With its straightforward allusion to another Jewish writer's witness to anguish, Howl appears to make its intentions apparent from the outset: we are located in the world of mental dissolution, of consciousness strained and subsequently fractured. But rather than Allen Ginsberg's would-be seekers of enlightenment, disappearing into the volcanoes of Mexico and scattering their semen freely through rose gardens and cemeteries, Jacobson's avatar is a somewhat prim, suburban primary school headteacher, driven to distraction not by free love and copious hallucinogens, but by fizzing anger and agonising guilt."

"The extent to which both emotions and their countless related variations and subsets have been dormant within him is one of the novel's puzzles, but the catalyst for their current manifestation is abundantly clear: the events and aftermath of the Hamas attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023, as experienced by a British Jew living and working in London."

Howard Jacobson characteristically writes about men at their wits' end, typically Jewish characters whose capacious intellects transform idiosyncrasy into neurosis and preoccupation into obsession. These men engage in exhaustive argumentation rather than silent suffering. Howl alludes to Allen Ginsberg's work, positioning itself within mental dissolution and fractured consciousness. However, Jacobson's protagonist Ferdinand Draxler differs markedly from Ginsberg's seekers: he is a suburban primary school headteacher driven to distraction by fizzing anger and agonizing guilt rather than free love and hallucinogens. The catalyst for his emotional eruption stems from the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel, experienced acutely by this British Jew living in London. Ferdinand's world—his staff room, family, and city—becomes divided. His previously pleasurable routines, including Saturday chocolate purchases at Fortnum & Mason and Royal Academy visits, face disruption.

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