JL;DR SUMMARY "An Absence of Cousins" by Lore Segal, reviewed by Jennifer Lipman, is a collection of interlinked short stories originally published in The New Yorker, featuring Viennese expat Ilka Weisz as she navigates academia and social life on America’s East Coast during the 1960s and 70s. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.