Isaac Davis

Grew Up… in Brooklyn. Isaac could never leave New York, even if he wanted to. “New York was his town,” he writes of his narrator, a very thinly fictionalized version of himself,  “and it always would be.”

Living… through a series of personal catastrophes. Isaac is perennially in crisis mode. Now he’s living with the prospect of the entire island of Manhattan hearing all about his quirks and mannerisms from his ex-wife’s latest book.

Profession… TV writer. Isaac has made a living off his sense of humor, but he wants to live for a higher form of art. He’s taking some time off to work on his other project: his novel. “My book is about decaying values,” he explains. “You see, years ago I wrote a short story about my mother called The Castrating Zionist, and I want to expand it into a novel.”

Interests… Gershwin, Bergman films and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Isaac prefers the work of the Great Artists. He won’t waste his time with the kind of trash television that he writes for a living.

Relationship Status… dating a young girl. Isaac is going through a bit of a mid-life crisis. His wife left him for another woman, and now he’s taking out a girl who’s still in high school, nearly 30 years younger. “I’m dating a girl, wherein I can beat up her father,” he jokes.

Challenge… finishing his novel and finding authentic love. Isaac wants whatever he can’t have. He’s paralyzed by his fear of death and confused about the women in his life. Before he can be happy, he needs to get over his narcissism – or at least stop cracking jokes about it.

Personality… nervous, witty, and melancholic. Isaac masks his personal problems with his acerbic sense of humor. He’s funny, urbane and charming, but he’s ultimately crippled by a severe sense a dread and anguish.