Annotated Bibliography
Berger, Alan. Children of Job: American Second-Generation Witnesses to the
Holocaust. Albany: State University of New York, 1997.
This very powerful and emotional book describes the destiny of the survivors of the Holocaust and the history of their children. It provides a brief history of the American second-generation witnesses. It introduces the most common questions the children of the survivors deal with. How are they able to live with traumatizing memory of their orphaned parents? Should they feel guilty for not being able to spare them their past suffering? Where do they find the courage and the strength to stay positive? Alan Berger is a survivor of the Holocaust himself and he knows what problems and traumas his children, family, and himself had to overcome. He describes his way toward Tikkun (repair and transformation of the world - in Hebrew) in both the self and the world. He instructs his audience how to change pathological symptoms of depression into healthy spiritual and social life. He introduces story telling (writing) as a therapy many survivors took in order to successfully deal with their horrifying traumas. The author emphasizes how important it was (and still is) for the survivors and their families to keep expressing themselves in creative ways.
This book deals with traumas of Holocaust and possible artistic methods in dealing with them in very detailed way. I would recommend this book to readers who are interested in very specific information about people who have dealt with Holocaust in their lives (with focus on literature).
Bloom, Harold, et al. Exodus: Modern Critical Interpretations. New York: Chelsa
House Publisher, 1987.
This book is a collection of contributions to a literary understanding of Exodus (Exodus records the epic of liberation for the Israelites), the second book of Hebrew and Christian Bible. Harold Bloom judges this collection as the best modern literary expression of Exodus. Among eight writers in this collection are names like Sigmund Freud and Northrop Frye. Each author approaches Exodus from a different perspective. The authors emphasize historical, spiritual, mythical, narrative, and poetic elements in Exodus.
This book is a great resource for readers who are interested in complex and advanced literary criticism and who are already quite familiar with the story of Exodus.
Carlson, Ralph, et al. American Jewish Desk Reference. New York: Random
House, 1999.
This one-volume reference to the Jewish experience in America is an excellent source of information for anyone who is interested in anything about Jewish people in this country. This book is divided into 14 parts, where each part discusses different aspect of Jewish experience. The book offers history of Jewish settlement in America, explains Jewish holidays, discusses family life, rituals, Judaism, community life, business, labor, finance, education, intellectual life, art, architecture, music, theater, language and literature, media, science, and politics. Each part includes many names and personal stories of the most important writers, philosophers, scientists, and other intellectuals in any given area. The topic of immigration is woven through out the whole book. There are hundreds of illustrations and photos documenting history and presence of Jewish life and culture in America.
This book is very well organized despite of its size (over 600 pages) and its complexity. I would recommend this book to readers of any level because the content is smoothly organized from general to more specific.
Dickstein, Morris. “Never Goodbye, Columbus: The Complex Fate of the Jewish-
American Writer.” The Nation 273 (2001): 25-34.
Distinguished Professor of English at the City University of New York Morris Dickstein in his article focuses on various directions in Jewish-American literature in the last 30 years and on possible directions for the future. He uses Irving Howe’s famous attack on Phillip Roth (in Commentary in 1972) as an example of conflict between more traditional and modern approaches in Jewish-American literature. He compares Jewish American lit. with the Southern literary schools, because they both are, in eyes of some experts, close to dying. Then Dickstein discusses numerous features of Jewish American lit. and he explains which of them transform into modern Jewish American lit. and which of them are disappearing. He also compares older Jewish fiction (Kafka) with modern Jewish Am. Lit. Dickstein clearly believes in the future of Jewish Am. Lit. He admires numerous topics opened by Phillip Roth (metafiction, magic realism, pattern of returning in Jewishness, cosmopolitan approaches, etc.). He explains that a conflict between Howe and Roth is also a conflict of their backgrounds and that Roth represents more assimilated and comfortable writers. In his mind, Roth represents writers who left some aspects of their Jewish history behind in order to grow and attack new topics in literature.
Furman, Andrew. “A New ‘Other’ Emerges in American Jewish Literature: Phillip
Roth’s Israel Fiction.” Contemporary Literature 4 Apr. 1995, Online. 1 May
2002.
Andrew Furman is also “touching” a comparison between the South and Jewish Am. Lit. Similarly to Phillip Roth he believes that this comparison is rather wrong. He finds very few true similarities between both of them. He uses this example to define meaning of a word “other”. There are also different “others” for the South and for the Jews. Both of those cultures also mean different “others” to different groups of people (African Americans to the white Southerners and American Jews to American European settlers). Then finally, Furman discusses two of Phillip Roth’s works The Counterlife and Operation Shylock where Roth collaborates on relationship between Arabs (Palestine) and Jews (Israel). He discusses meaning of the word “other” from perspectives of both in relation to the beginning of the article. Furman concludes his essay, saying that similar, opened and self-reflecting, comparisons will be the future of Jewish American literature.
Furman, Andrew. “The Exaggerated Demise of the Jewish-American Writer.”
The Chronicle of Higher Education 47 (2001): 7-10.
Assistant Professor of English at Florida Atlantic University and author of a book Contemporary Jewish American Writers and the Multicultural Dilemma (2000) Andrew Furman is an advocate of modern Jewish American literature. In his article he defends the future of Jewish American literature and he introduces several talented writers, who are according to him, full of inspiration. He shows that some of them have been already recognized and awarded by literary experts and critics. He believes that while respecting the old, we should believe and support the new in Jewish American literature.
Heilman, Samuel C. Portrait of American Jews: The Last Half of the 20th Century.
Seattle: U of Washington Press, 1995.
Professor of Jewish Studies and Sociology at Queens College Samuel Heilman starts his book by describing development of new suburbs in 1950’s where many middle class Jewish Americans found affordable homes. He explains how, for many Jews, it was an escape from the cultural and physical constrictions of the “old neighborhoods”. He explains new goals young Jews in America had, such as higher education and professional advancement. Then Heilman describes an atmosphere of the 60’s and 70’s when Jewish-American population split into two main groups. One group were people who were leaving their religious roots and who were focused on becoming modern and goal oriented Americans, while the second group were people who wanted to stay close to their spiritual traditions, their temples, and their Jewish communities. Heilman offers numerous statistics to illustrate how has the Jewish community changed over the last 50 years. There are many comparisons among the four main groups of Jewish Americans: Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, and others. At the end of his book the author expresses his sadness over a loss of unity among Jewish Americans, especially in the last 20 years. He tries to inspire his Jewish American audience to stay connected with their Jewishness.
This book provides useful information about the Jewish American population in the last 50 years. However, after reading works of some other modern Jewish American writers, the tone in this book seemed to be little bit too old-fashioned and rigid.
Pinsker, Sanford. “Thinking About What the ‘Other’ Was, and Now Is.” Tikkun
Jan/Feb 2001, Academic Search Elite. Online. 1 May 2002.
Professor of Humanities at Franklin and Marshall College Sanford Pinsker offers quite different attitude toward Jewish Americanism than the author of the previous source. According to Pinsker, there is no place for labels of different groups in the United States at the beginning of the 21st century. There is no place for “Other”. He believes that the American society is now so diverse that there is no place for “double consciousness”. It would have to be “quadruple” or even more “multiple” consciousness, which simply doesn’t make any sense. He gives an example of an old professor who while teaching some of his African-American students was trying to be absolutely politically correct. Of course he sounded silly and he still offended some of his students. Therefore Pinsker suggests quitting using any ethnical (or minority) labels in America.
This essay is a good source of ideas for readers who are interested in the presence and the future of various minorities in America. It would be good additional reading for students in Multicultural Literature classes. This essay is entertaining, intelligent, and witty.
Wade, Stephen. Jewish American Literature since 1945. Chicago: Fitzroy
Dearborn Publishers, 1999.
Senior Lecturer in English at the University of Huddersfield, England, Stephen Wade wrote this anthology as a statement. He wants to demonstrate richness of Jewish American Literature since the end of WWII. First, he discusses historical and literary foundations of Jewish American literature. Later we learn about seminar influences at the end of the 20th century. Wade spent much of his book writing about Jewish American fiction. Then he collaborates on J.A. Drama and especially on plays of Arthur Miller and Tony Kushner. It is followed by poetry and finally by cinematography (especially movies by Woody Allen). Wade concludes his book stating that there is definitely a Renaissance in Jewish American literature not revisionism.
This book requires relatively deep knowledge of Jewish American history and literature. The author often discusses writers and works without introducing them at all. It is a good advanced and interesting reading for audience who is at least familiar with the topic.
Wise, Ruth R. “Torn in the USA.” The New Republic 224 (2001): 36-42.
Professor of Yiddish and comparative literature at Harvard University Ruth Wise wrote this essay as a response to a newly published book Jewish American Literature: A Norton Anthology. Wise follows the book from the very beginning of Jewish literature in the 17th century. She points out many moments from the anthology she finds interesting. She often emphasizes positive changes Jewish American community made on its way to the presence. She is obviously happy about certain parts of Jewish Am. History. She admires how quickly the Jews accepted the July 4th as their second most important holiday right next to the Passover Feast. She is also fascinated by Jewish American writers’ celebrations of freedom after arriving from Europe. In short, Wise expands on points from the anthology she enjoyed. She concludes her essay admiring the full variety of the manifestation of the Jewish mind and the Jewish soul throughout the centuries.
It is an interesting essay, which would be a useful preview for readers who are interested in buying the anthology as well for readers who are interested in expanding their knowledge about Jewish American literature.
HOME | TERM PROJECT | TERM PROJECT ANNOTATED BIB.
| JEW-AM LIT | JEW-AM LIT ANNOTATED BIB.
URL of this page is:
http://www.cocc.edu/wr316ca/janv/annotated_bibliography.htm
This page was last updated: 10-07-2003
copyright © 2003, Jan Vrbata