The Jewish American Novel and
the Creation of Jewish Americans
a lecture by Benjamin Schreier
Malvin and Lea Bank Assistant Professor of English and
Jewish Studies,
The dirty secret about Jewish American literature is that
there is little consensus about the definition of Jewish American literature. Do
we mean novels both by and about American Jews, or is one of these criteria
sufficient? For that matter, how is “American Jew” defined? To argue simply
that American Jews write Jewish American literature is to ignore the problem
of Jewish American identity, and very likely also to tread on unsavory racialist
ground. But without such a racial concept of identity, the category of Jewish
American literature often appears incoherent. If discussing the history of the
Jewish American novel is impossible without engaging powerful assumptions—
including, notably, that it is also a history of the Jews—then by highlighting the
tradition’s leading figures and major themes, it is possible to tackle this problem
head-on, examining Jewish American literature as a machine for the production
of Jewish Americans.
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
7:00 pm
Katie & Irwin Kahn Jewish Community Center
306 Flora Drive | Columbia, SC
787-2023 | www.jcccolumbia.org
Free And Open To The Public!
Sponsored by:
Columbia Jewish Community Center, Columbia Jewish Federation, USC Comparative Literature Program,
USC Department of English Language & Literature, USC Jewish Studies Program, USC Department of
Languages, Literatures, & Cultures