English 230/Jewish Studies 258 - The Jewish Writer In America

Justin Cammy

MW 1:10-2:30 p.m.

The Jewish writer's engagement with America, from the 1890s through the cultural upheavals of the 1960s. From writing on the margins in Yiddish to the central role of Jews in shaping American literature after World War II. Narratives of immigration and acculturation; the myth of America and its discontents; negotiating anti-Semitism in the Anglo-American literary tradition; the rise of the New York Intellectuals; comedy and satire; crises of the left involving Communism, Black-Jewish relations, and 60s radicalism; and the shadow of the Holocaust. Must Jewish writing in America remain on the margins, "too Jewish" for the mainstream yet not ethnic enough for the new multicultural curriculum? Novels, short stories, poetry, and essays by recipients of the Nobel And Pulitzer Prizes, the national Book Award, and many others.