AmericanJewishLiterature

1、American Jewish LiteratureQuestions:1. American Jewish literature or Jewish American literature?2. Why do so many American Jewish writers refuse the designation of “American Jewish writers”or “Jewish American writers”?Some major issues:1. Identity;2. Assimilation;3. Major themes;4. Narrative strateg

2、ies;5. Traits of characters;6. Jewish humor.*1. American Jewish literature or Jewish American literature?At the outset, we have to wrestle with the question of what to call this course: Jewish American literature or American Jewish literature in the title, with no rationale given one way or the othe

3、r. The choice does matter; each pair of the words emphasizes something different.The term “Jewish” in “Jewish American literature” matters because it distinguishes this literature from all other American literature, sounding nicely congruent with African American literature, Irish American literatur

4、e, Asian American literature, Native American literature, etc., and filling a multiethnic and multicultural paradigm for what American has come to be.But, is that congruence accurate? After all, “African, ”“Irish,”“Asian,”and “Native” denote place and nationhood. But Jews have not often been a natio

5、n dwelling in one place. Nor are they bound only by religion. They are people, over many centuries and over the entire globe.For some Jews, to assert the oneness of the Jews, their unity over time and place, counted vitally then and may still. But a somewhat discrepant idea has equal urgency: doesnt

6、Jewish identity center in Israel rather than in the Diaspora (the dispersion of the Jews among the Gentiles after their period of exile)? There are good reasons to say yes. But, at the same time many American Jews, Zionists (the Jews who fight for the establishment of an independent state for the Je

7、ws) included, refuse to think of themselves as being tangential, contingent on Israel. American is the “l(fā)and of our destiny,”they say, that destiny being no less definitive than Israel.1In Nazi-occupied Europe, ones Jewishness,however defined by Jews or their oppressors, determined ones fate; in the

8、 United States, being a Jew is a factor in ones life, but the degree of its significance varies considerably. Much of the writing by Jews about their American existence reveals a prophets urge to make the country live up to its best self. In that sense, the “Americanness”of Jewish Americans is param

9、ount, and the title of this course seems more justified.Yet, the other formulation “American Jewish literature”might also sound primarily American and secondarily Jewish. Or does that term point up a distinctively Jewish writing in its American incarnation? Can we discern an“American Jew”at the root

10、 of the phrase, someone as deeply akin to Russian or Israel Jews as to other Americans? Yes or no, depending on time and circumstance. On 16 September, 1919, smarting from the Versailles Treatys“stab in the back”to German nationalism, Adolf Hitler complained in a letter: “Its the Jew who never calls

11、 himself a Jewish German, Jewish Pole, or Jewish American, but always a German, Polish, or American Jew. ” Thus, what outraged Hitler ought to suit the current American Jews.It is advisable to designate a literature according to circumstances, but it is more reasonable to designate it according to w

12、hat the literature is accurately concerned.Taking all the historical and practical (literary) factors into consideration, we would like to call this course of literature as American Jewish literature.2. A long history briefly surveyedAny consideration of American Jewish literature requires some know

13、ledge of the history of the Jews. Jewish existence originated in the Middle East at least 4000 years ago. According to the Hebrew calendar, which is based on a lunar month, the year 2000 on our Gregorian calendar is 5760/61. Recorded Jewish history and literature as reflected in the Hebrew Bible the

14、 Tanakh, or Torah, Prophets, Writings begins more than 3000 years ago. As such, it has been one of the great underpinnings of the Christian and Muslim civilizations as well as of the Jewish people. The long and varied history of the Jews includes centuries of sovereignty over their own kingdoms duri

15、ng biblical times as well as a large presence in classical antiquity. The destruction of the First (Solomons) Temple in Jerusalem in 586 B.C.E. resulted in the Babylonian Captivity. The destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans in 70 C.E.(Christian Era) after the Jews rose in revolt did not res

16、ult in an immediate diaspora, although some captive Jews were taken by the Roman legions to their camps in the Rhineland to be used as craftspeople, slaves, and concubines. The Jewish population and religious center did gradually shift to Babylonia over two centuries. The Jews came to Europe in sign

17、ificant numbers about 900 C.E., and from Babylonia to Spain beginning around 1000 C.E. Jews moved to southern Italy and then to France around 900 C.E. and north to Germany (Ashkenazis a biblical term that in modern times denotes Germany). These Ashkenazim established significant settlements in2Rhine

18、land towns like Speyer, Worms, and Cologne, and, ultimately, a language of their own Yiddish.The Jews who settled in Iberia, called Sephardim, developed their own Judeo-Spanish language,Ladino, and their own variations on Jewish ritual. In time, they produced a flourishing civilization for several c

19、enturies, living in relative harmony with the Muslim and small Christian populations. During the 11 th and 12th centuries, they created a golden age of literature, poetry, and philosophy. In 1492, this civilization was crushed, the Jews being ruthlessly expelled along with the Moorish or African pre

20、sence as the land was united under Christian sovereigns.Christian persecution and massacres during the period of the Crusades and in the time of the Plague or Black Death in the 14th century made life precarious in Western Europe for the Ashkenazim, and large numbers of Jews responded to invitations

21、 from the ruler of Poland to settle in that land and serve as a progressive element in its development. These now-Eastern European Jews had carried with them the Yiddish language and devotion to their religion and sacred texts.3. The dream of, and, the life in, AmericaAmerica s newly arrived Jews we

22、re part of a vast number of European immigrants (about 23 million between 1880 and 1920) who were pushed by an explosion of population in the 19th century, impoverishment of land and loss of work, and various repressions, and were drawn to the United States by its expanding economy and promise of re

23、ligious, political and social freedom and equality. The first Jews in America, however, were 23 refugees to New Netherland who came from the Dutch colony of Recife, Brazil, retaken by the Portuguese and the Inquisition in 1654. They were descendentsof the Jews driven from Spain in 1492“two-faced yea

24、r” (one of tears, the other of smiles), as Emma Lazarus said in her sonnet 1492the same year as Columbuss “discovery”of America. They and their descendents were Sephardic Jews. As described earlier, the Sephardim had their own vernacular, Ladino, and followed a religious ritual somewhat different th

25、at of Ashkenazic Jews, the other stream of Jews from German-speaking and Eastern Europe.No matter how “at home”Jews may feel or be, often after considerable strugglewith hostility from without and doubt within, what it means or can mean to be a Jewin America and in the world at large has always been

26、 an issue, a subject, sometimes acurse, more often a hope and creative spur. Even in our time, when American Jews aremore integrated in social and economic terms than at any other period in history,when the ample literature they have produced is varied and prized, nonetheless, thethought of the Holo

27、caust and the fateful history shared to some degree by all Jewscannot be far from any Jews mindeven when it is not mentionedhoweverassimilated, nonobservant, even nonidentifying they or their work may be.At the time of the American Revolution, there were under 2,000 Jews in Americamost of them Sepha

28、rdiccomprising only about 0.05 percent of the total population. Immigration, though continuous, increased greatly only in the first third of3the 19th century so that by the time of the Civil War the Jewish population was 150,000 (0.47 percent of the whole country). The major source of immigrants bet

29、ween 1830 and 1880 were German Jews (in 1880, there were 250,000 in America). After that, the numbers skyrocketed, mostly Jews from Eastern Europe, 2.3 million in all by 1924, when the total Jewish population was 4.2 million (over 3.00 percent of the U. S. total).4. Some major issues:1) Jewish assim

30、ilation:ever since falling into Babylonian Captivity, the Jews have been forced or “seduced”to be assimilated either into the Christian world or into the Muslin world. Cotton Mather, (16631723) once expressed in his diary that to convert a Jew into Christian world was his lifesmission.2) Major theme

31、s: Jewish suffering; Jewish humor; new life; “go outexodus complex”; father and son; emotional and spiritual loses; assimilation and acculturation; redemption.3) Traits of characters: endurance; schlemielfool; stubborn; love;4) Narrative strategies: a. Jewish setting; b. Jewish characters; c. Jewish

32、 stories; d. Jewish point of view/orientation;5) Jewish humor:Jewish wry rather than a crack of shallow laughter.5. American Jewish Literature in Generala. A long history briefly conveyedJewish existence originated in the Middle East at least four thousand years ago. According to the Hebrew calendar

33、, which is based on a lunar month, the year 2000 on our Gregorian calendar is 5760/61. Recorded Jewish history and literature as reflected in the Hebrew Bible the Tanakh, or Torah, Prophets, Writings begins more that three thousand years ago; as such, it has been one of the great underpinnings of th

34、e Christian and Muslim civilizations as well as of the Jewish people. The long and varied history of the Jews includes centuries of sovereignty over their own kingdoms during biblical times as well as a large presence in classical antiquity. It has been estimated that the Jews comprised 8 percent to

35、 10 percent of the population of the Roman Empire(perhaps 4.5 to 7.0 million Jews) by the end of the first half of the first century. There were also long periods of subjugation and several exiles by foreign imperiumsEgytian, Assyrian (亞述人 ), Persian, Greek, Roman.b. Historical attitudes:The Jew s p

36、lace in literature dates far back as the Old Testament. Hebraic culture is one of the foundations of Western civilization. As the outsider to Christianity, theJew has always been characterized as the alien mysterious, fearsome, and unrelenting in his adherence to his faith. During the Middle Ages an

37、d the Renaissance, the Jew received unfavorable treatment (One has only read Chaucer, Shakespeare and4Dickens). This was due in part to his unwillingness to be assimilated into Christianity, either as a Catholic or a Protestant, and his preference for social and religious independence, necessitating

38、 a rootless, scattered existence rather than a localized, ethnically unified life. Such an existence, coupled with a separatenessfrom fellow Jews, led to the strong defense mechanism manifested in a closed society. Thus, Jews set themselves apart from others and were in turn forced to live in specia

39、l sections of civilized communities. These sections were known as “ ghettos and”, here the alien Jews could be confined lest they cause trouble. As a people set apart, the Jews were logical targets for persecution and proved equally interesting subjects for suspicion. Medieval literature is full of

40、unfavorable reference to Jews who were though to be enemies of the Christian world. The Renaissance did not bring an end to anti-Semitic concepts, and the Jews were still considered outcasts. There have been, of course, numerous Jews who gained fame and favor in the Christian world, but for the most

41、 part, anti-Semitic sentiment has prevailed as the mystique of the non-assimilated Jew continued. The wandering of the Jews brought them to the New World, but so far as literature was concerned, Old World attitudes prevailed. As nationalism took precedence over feudal loyalties, the Jew splace in wh

42、atever country he resided became more stable, and national loyalty became a new factor in Jewish life. Yet the tendency to ethnocentricity (種族中心主義 ) continued, whether self-imposed or forced upon the Jews by the laws the governed him. Consequently, the connotation of Jews as isolated groups became g

43、roups became standard in practical living as well as artistic representation. As an inherent defense mechanism against persecution, this sort of voluntary group life perpetuated the mystique of the Jew as a symbol of alienation. The Jew has retained a separated identity, whether as a result of his o

44、wn clannishness or the restrictions imposed upon him by external pressure.c. Immigration and occupationAs the New World beckoned to all peoples seeking freedom and opportunity, many Jews came forth, escaping the persecution of the Old World. Since the nineteenth century, waves of Jewish immigration

45、to the United States have become more noticeable. While considered socially undesirable in many cases,the Jew has always has educational advantages inherent in his background. Historically barred from civil or professional occupation, the Jew has, for the most part, found his live-hood in mercantile

46、 areas.d.The modern JewryJewish-American consciousness was most profoundly revitalized by the threat of ethnic extinction in Europe during World War Two. The atrocities of Hitlers elaborate methods of genocide aroused world attention as well as Jewish-American sympathy. The renewal of old patterns o

47、f persecution generated a revival of ancient preoccupations with suffering and alienation. This time, however, the reception of non-Jews was one of sympathetic concern and active participation in5countermesasuresto Hitler s activities. The image of the totally mortified man was compatible with warti

48、me attitudes, and the Jewish cultural renaissancefostered a momentum that carried Jewish literature beyond its traditional characteristics of nostalgia and defensiveness. The impact of World War Two on the public was a greater interest in and receptivity to the Jewish writer who suddenly found his J

49、ewishness at a premium on the literary market. His very alienation was his passport to a substantial place in Gentile culture.e.Literary currentsJewish literary creativity in America has existed throughout the history of Jews in America, and generally, American Jewish literature can be roughly divid

50、ed into 5 periods, namely,(1) Literature of arrival, 1654-1880: spanning the first 226 years of Jews in America, tells a story of the benefits and responsibilities of citizenship that European Jews experienced upon reaching the New World. Initially, Jews such as Abraha de Lucena and others in their

51、1656 petition to New Amsterdams governor Peter Stuyvesant demanded political and civil rights in the colonies. Later, Rebecca Gratz in her letters and Isaac Mayer Wise in his editorial The Fourth of July , 1858 extolled the equality afforded them by the democratic values of the United States. In con

52、trast to patriotic exuberance, Isaac Leesers sermon warned against the seductive assimilation that this same democracy promises. Writers such as Penina Moise and Adah Isaacs Menken, for instance, translated or rewrote Hebrew liturgical and biblical texts; others, such as Nathan Mayer and Emma Lazaru

53、s, created fictional or poetic versions of Jewish history. We also find writings that have no explicitly Jewish qualities but metaphorically reflect moral concerns that might be considered Jewish, such as the play by Mordecai Manuel Noah.(2) The great tide, 1881-1924: covering the 40 years of massiv

54、e Eastern European Jwish immigration, focuses upon questions of language. For manywriters, though, the question of whether to write in Egnlish or Yiddish was a basic one. Those who chose EnglishMary Antin, Abraham Cahan, and Anzia Yezierska, for instancestruggled to master an English prose style tha

55、t could fulfill their artistic needs and portray the social reality of their experiences as immigrants. From these efforts came a new kind of American English, infused with Yiddish words, inflections, and syntax. Works like Antin s The Promising Land, Cahans The Rise of David Levinsky, and Yezierska

56、s Hungry Hearts drew in the mainstream reading public, which responded to the language the stories of the immigrantsstruggle and achievements.(3) From margin to mainstream in difficult times, 1924-1945: beginning with the Johnson Acts of 1921 and 1924, legislation that halted mass immigration, and e

57、nds with the conclusion of the Second World War. These cataclysmic years saw intensive literary production, when the literary (as well as literal) children of immigrants came of age and became a force on the American cultural scene.6As more Jewish writers published in English for mainstream readers,

58、 the debate over which language to write in receded, yet modernist experimentation with language engaged the introspectivist Yiddish poets Jacob Glatstein and A. Leyeles as well as the English poets Charles Rezikoff and fiction writers such as Gertrude Stein and Henry Roth. Two writers transformed Joycean modernism into a Jewish medium: Glatstein in his Yiddish poems, which break down the elements of language through memory and the senses, and Henry Roth in