Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
News

Yid Lit: Lev Grossman

Lev Grossman does not tire of his best-selling fantasy novels being called “Harry Potter for adults.” While “Potter” is marketed to children and happens to attract adult readers, “The Magicians” (Viking, 2009) and its new follow-up, “The Magician King,” are designed for adults. The books are filled with drinking, cursing and sex, and, things aren’t resolved simply because bad guys get “offed.”

Grossman’s hero, Quentin Coldwater, is king of a magical land, who faces a quest that becomes inseparable from his wizard’s existence. The darker story line is that of his friend, Julia, who is denied entry into the magic college where Quentin studied and must make horrific sacrifices to learn and do magic on her own. Grossman spoke with the Forward’s Allison Gaudet Yarrow about his books, why he feels he “wasted” his 20s and the edifying Seders of his youth.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.