my grandparents spoke russian, romanian, yiddish, and german. a sixth language? no way. they learned english, but they were never comfortable with it and they forgot it as soon as they could. my parents didn't speak english either, but they were going to live their lives in this country so they've learned it. they always spoken with a heavy accent and was something that was always a struggle for them. as they got older, they didn't want to do it anymore. my father spoke his last words in yiddish. we are born here, my native english speakers. i think you can mostly understand me. what i think about technology, i see a parallel and my family because i think about my parents, my parents have really become my grandparents' generation. if technology is something they did not want to learn. boy, would she like to forget it. she hates technology. we have really become a skilled computer users because we have had to. it is something we have had to learn, and we speak technology with an accent. we don't really know it intuitively. i looked at my kids, they are native speakers. th

it was the new york kid on the couch, wisecracking, full of yiddishisms, full of humor. and i think that description still holds. henry miller predicted it would make literary history and change the way books were written, and actually he's right. women write differently and men write differently because of "fear of flying." so it's turned into a phenomenon which was not about sex, but about liberating a new voice. and i think that is why the book has had this staying power. some people have compared it to hold toen callfield -- holden caufield, the catcher in the rye by salinger, it's been compared to everything. [laughter] >> host: who's the main character, and what are her travels through the book? >> guest: the main character is isadora wing who's been married for five years to a psychoanalyst. she goes to a conference of psychoanalysts, she's bored with her husband, and she runs off with another shrink. sort of going from the frying pan into the fire, so to speak. and the book is her journey with this psychoanalyst which is both a journey through the present and a j

you just like yiddish. >> he was italian.e came with his wife from torino, and then he gets a letter from his brother saying he must go to brooklyn because everybody is having so much fun there. he goes to brooklyn and the grandmother doesn't hear himself for months. his grandmother said wrote him a letter, she said, if you don't come back to torino, i'm going to kill myself and the children, talk about drama. he had a job in torino. it's a nice city. >> john: you can buy shrouds in brooklyn. there's a lot going on there. who were your comedic idols? >> my comedic idol was i used to watch the ed sullivan show. there was jean carol. she would ask about a mink coat, and he would say, for you, the label. she looked normal, no costume or anything. i loved her and then robert cline. i thought, i'm a substitute teacher, i could do material like that. he was smart. >> john: you were divorced, you had a daughter, and you were no longer at your gig teaching every day. how scary was that for. >> you between my life now and my teaching

procommunist press in the 1930s, outside of the soviet union or inside the united states was the yiddish press. jews took a new religion as as substitute for judaism and that was, you name it, feminism, environmentalism, marxism, socialism, and for some even communism. but jews love-isms. they create new moms and every one will make this great world and in state of using the -- their religion that came with being jewish, and it's a very sad development to me. >> host: still the best hope. nancy is in georgia. go ahead with your question or comment. >> caller: hi everybody. hello, mr. prager. this is the first time unfortunately i have ever heard your name, although you're very interesting. >> guest: where do you live? >> caller: i live in south of atlanta in georgia. >> guest: i'm on atlanta every day for three years. >> i'll have to listen. i'm a wherein christian, aim neither left nor right. i think that both arecast casting stones and they're corporate owned. jesus said we're all one and within that i'm often troubled by the talking headed of bowling sides -- i don't mean that as a pe

procommunist press in the 1930s, outside of the soviet union or inside the united states was the yiddish press. jews took a new religion as as substitute for judaism and that was, you name it, feminism, environmentalism, marxism, socialism, and for some even communism. but jews love-isms. they create new moms and every one will make this great world and in state of using the -- their religion that came with being jewish, and it's a very sad development to me. >> host: still the best hope. nancy is in georgia. go ahead with your question or comment. >> caller: hi everybody. hello, mr. prager. this is the first time unfortunately i have ever heard your name, although you're very interesting. >> guest: where do you live? >> caller: i live in south of atlanta in georgia. >> guest: i'm on atlanta every day for three years. >> i'll have to listen. i'm a wherein christian, aim neither left nor right. i think that both arecast casting stones and they're corporate owned. jesus said we're all one and within that i'm often troubled by the talking headed of bowling sides -- i don't mean that as a pe

new york wisecracking which is partly meet and then your kid on the couch, a wisecracking fall of yiddish and full of humor and i think that description still holds. henry miller predicted it would make literary history and change the way books were written and actually he is right. women write differently and man right to freely because of fear of flying. and it has turned into a phenomenon that was not about sex but liberating a new voice. and i think that is why the of book has had staying power. some people have compared it to the catcher in the rye. it has been compared to everything. >> host: who is the main character and what are her travels? >> guest: the main character is isadora wing who has been married five years to a psychoanalyst and goes to a conference and is bored with her husband and she runs off with another shrink going from the frying pan into the fire so to speak. the book is her journey with this psychoanalyst which is a journey to the present and also into her own past. during this journey, she finds out about herself and so does "the reader". >> host: you wrote th