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Now Gould has another fight on his hands. During a routine physical last year, doctors discovered mesothelioma, an ordinarily deadly form of cancer linked to asbestos. The disease has apparently been arrested by surgery and chemotherapy, but the treatment has drained Gould of strength and weight. Still, with the encouragement of his wife Deborah, an illustrator, and two sons, Jesse, 13, and Ethan, 9, he courageously continues to write and teach "as if nothing were changed." He has also retained his playfulness. When friends wondered why he was wearing a hat (it was to hide hair loss from chemotherapy), the nonbeliever insisted solemnly that he was turning back to the Jewish orthodoxy of his forefathers. — By Frederic Golden