NONFICTION - June 16, 1991

FIEDLER ON THE ROOF: Essays on Literature and Jewish Identity by Leslie Fiedler (David R. Godine: $19.95; 161 pp.). Leslie Fiedler, long a bad boy of the lit-crit world, hasn’t published a book in eight years. His return is welcome, but “Fiedler on the Roof” is a disappointment; it’s repetitive, narrow and surprisingly (for him) unadventurous--yes, even more on Shylock and his pound of flesh. Fielder writes in a more personal mode than usual here, but he’s very self-conscious about it, referring time and again to being “three score years and ten” and advertising his new-found willingness to break silence on certain subjects. Such criticisms having been made, it should be noted that the final and most personal essay in the book--”In Every Generation: A Meditation on the Two Holocausts”--is radiant, encapsulating with feeling and wisdom the paradox that lies at the center of “Fiedler on the Roof”; that even as Jews have defended themselves against anti-Semitism by articulating a distinct view of the world, they have increasingly lost their cultural identity.