Identity Papers: Contemporary Narratives of American Jewishness PDF
Preview Identity Papers: Contemporary Narratives of American Jewishness
JeWIsH sTUDIes / LITerAry CrITICIsM identity papers M e y e r Identity Papers argues that contemporary Jewish American literature s revises our understanding of Jewishness and Jewish difference. Contemporary Narratives of American Jewishness Moving beyond the reductive labeling of texts and authors as “too i d Jewish” or “not Jewish enough,” and focusing instead on narratives e that portray Jewish regeneration through feminist Orthodoxy, n queerness, off-whiteness, and intermarriage, Helene Meyers resists a lachrymose view of contemporary Jewish American life. She argues t i that such gendered, sexed, and raced debates about Jewish identity t become opportunities rather than crises, signs of creative potential y rather than symptoms of assimilation and deracination. Thus, feminist debates within Orthodoxy are allied to Jewish continuity p by Rebecca Goldstein, Allegra Goodman, and Tova Mirvis; the a geography of Jewish identity is racialized by Alfred Uhry, Tony p Kushner, and Philip Roth; and the works of Jyl Lynn Felman, Judith e Katz, Lev Raphael, and Michael Lowenthal queer the Jewish family as r they reveal homophobia to be an abomination. Even as Identity Papers s expands Jewish literary horizons and offers much-needed alternatives to the culture wars between liberal and traditional Jews, it argues that Jewish difference productively troubles dominant narratives of feminist, queer, and whiteness studies. Meyers demonstrates that the evolving Jewish American literary renaissance is anything but provincial; rather, it is engaged with categories of difference central to contemporary academic discourses and our national life. HeLene Meyers is Professor of English and McManis University Chair at Southwestern University. She is the author of Femicidal Fears: Narratives of the Female Gothic Experience, also published by SUNY Press, and Reading Michael Chabon. State UniverSity of new york PreSS Helene Meyers www.sunypress.edu Identity Papers Meyers, Helene Published by State University of New York Press Meyers, H.. Identity Papers: Contemporary Narratives of American Jewishness. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2011. Project MUSE., https://muse.jhu.edu/. For additional information about this book https://muse.jhu.edu/book/12684 Access provided by National University of Kaohsiung (6 Mar 2018 12:04 GMT) Identity Papers Identity Papers Meyers, Helene Published by State University of New York Press Meyers, H.. Identity Papers: Contemporary Narratives of American Jewishness. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2011. Project MUSE., https://muse.jhu.edu/. For additional information about this book https://muse.jhu.edu/book/12684 Access provided by National University of Kaohsiung (6 Mar 2018 12:02 GMT) Identity Papers Contemporary Narratives of American Jewishness HELENE MEYERS Published by State University of New York Press, Albany © 2011 State University of New York All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher. For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY www.sunypress.edu Production by Diane Ganeles Marketing by Anne M. Valentine Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Meyers, Helene. Identity papers : contemporary narratives of American Jewishness / Helene Meyers. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-4384-3923-5 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. American literature—Jewish authors—History and criticism. 2. Jews in literature. 3. Judaism and literature—United States. 4. Jews—Identity— United States. 5. Homosexuality—Religious aspects—Judaism. I. Title. PS153.J4M48 2011 810.9'8924—dc22 2011003859 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Identity Papers Meyers, Helene Published by State University of New York Press Meyers, H.. Identity Papers: Contemporary Narratives of American Jewishness. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2011. Project MUSE., https://muse.jhu.edu/. For additional information about this book https://muse.jhu.edu/book/12684 Access provided by National University of Kaohsiung (6 Mar 2018 12:00 GMT) Contents Acknowledgments vii Chapter 1 Introduction: Jewish Difference, Jewish Reading 1 Chapter 2 Feminism and Orthodoxy: Not an Oxymoron 19 Orthodoxy as Patriarchy: Lovingkindness and Preparing for Sabbath 22 Continuity through Feminist Transformation: Kaaterskill Falls, Mazel, The Ladies Auxiliary, and The Outside World 29 Leaving Orthodoxy with a Blessing: A Price above Rubies 62 Chapter 3 Queering the Jewish Family 73 Homophobia as Assimilation and Abomination: “The State of Extreme Agitation” and Dancing on Tisha B’Av 80 From Generation to Generation: Running Fiercely toward a High Thin Sound, Torch Song Trilogy, In Every Laugh a Tear, and “Of Balloons and Bubbles” 93 Twinning Jewishness and Queerness: The Same Embrace 113
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