Literary Influences
Chaim Potok's parents discouraged his writing and reading of non-Jewish subjects. He spent many hours in the public library reading secular novels. Potok cited James Joyce, Thomas Mann, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Ernest Hemingway, and SY Agnon as his chief literary influences. Many of his novels are set in the urban environments in New York in which he himself grew up. While not Hasidic, Potok was raised in an extremely Orthodox home. In the book, Asher Lev wants to be a painter which causes much conflict with his father who wants him to do something else, much as Chaim Potok did during his childhood. Asher decides to continue as a painter and it disturbs his family, but Potok eventually decided to be an author and painted in his free time. Potok has said he relates to Asher Lev more than any of his other characters.
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