Modern Jewish Women Writers in America

272 Pages·2007·1.153 MB·English

by  Evelyn Avery (eds.)

Modern Jewish Women
Writers in America
Also by Evelyn Avery:
Rebels and Victims: The Fiction of Richard Wright and Bernard
Malamud. New York: Kennicat Press, 1979.
The Magic Worlds of Bernard Malamud. Albany, NY: SUNY Press,
2001.
Modern Jewish Women
Writers in America
Edited and with an Introduction by
Evelyn Avery
MODERNJEWISHWOMENWRITERSINAMERICA
© Evelyn Avery, 2007
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2007 ISBN 978-1-4039-7799-1
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced
in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the
case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
First published in 2007 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN™
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 and
Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, England RG21 6XS.
Companies and representatives throughout the world.
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the
Palgrave Macmillan division of St. Martin’s Press, LLC and of
Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Macmillan® is a registered trademark in
the United States, United Kingdom and other countries. Palgrave is a
registered trademark in the European Union and other countries.
ISBN 978-1-349-53802-7 ISBN 978-0-230-60484-1 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9780230604841
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Modern Jewish women writers in America / edited with an introduc-
tion by Evelyn Avery.
p. cm.
Includes index.
1. American literature—Jewish authors—History and criticism.
2. American literature—Women authors—History and criticism.
3. American literature—20th century—History and criticism.
4. Jewish women—United States—Intellectual life. 5. Jews—United
States. 6. Jewish women in literature. 7. Jews in literature. I. Avery,
Evelyn Gross, 1940-
PS153.J4M63 2007
810.9(cid:2)8924—dc22 2007061462
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Design by Macmillan India Ltd.
First edition: June 2007
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To Women of Valor
Shenah Pescha Pittelman, Esther Mandelker,
and Shoshana Feldman
Blessed Be Their Memories
This page intentionally left blank
Table of Contents
Preface ix
Modern Jewish Women Writers in America: An Introduction 1
Evelyn Avery
I The Early Years—In Search of the Promised
Land: 1910s–1950s
1 Rethinking Mary Antin and The Promised Land 17
Jules Chametzky
2 Between Two Worlds: Anzia Yezierska,
Longing for the New: Bound to the Old 29
Evelyn Avery
3 Edna Ferber, Jewish American Writer: Who Knew? 41
Eileen H. Watts
II The Roads Diverge—Assimilation and Its
Discontents: 1960s–1990s
4 “My Own Design”: Finding Identity in
Anne Roiphe’s Writings 67
Melanie Levinson
5 Conversation with Johanna Kaplan 79
Nahma Sandrow
6 Johanna Kaplan and the Freedom of Attachment 97
Carol Iannone
7 Norma Rosen’s Jewish Journey 111
Ann Shapiro
III The Covenant Confi rmed? 1990s—2000
8 Cynthia Ozick’s Puttermesser Papers: From
Whimsy to Wisdom 131
Sarah Blacher Cohen
9 Rebecca Goldstein: Tension and Ambivalence 151
Anna P. Ronell
10 Kei’tsad Mirakdim Lifnei HaKalah: How Do You
Dance before the Bride? 173
Miriyam Glazer
11 Anxieties in the “Modern Context”: Fantasies of
Change in Allegra Goodman’s Fiction 199
Victoria Aarons
IV Into the Twenty-First Century: The Pendulum
Swings
12 Failed Conquests: Jews and Germans in Fictions
and Memoirs by American Jewish Women 215
Susanne Klingenstein
13 “Writing between Worlds” 241
Tova Mirvis
14 On Being Modern and Orthodox: A Conversation
with Tova Mirvis 249
Evelyn Avery
Select Annotated Bibliography of Contemporary
Jewish American Women Writers 255
Eileen H. Watts
Contributors 265
Index 269
Preface
The genesis of this book began in the 1940s with a little girl, curled
under her grandfather’s tallith (prayer shawl), absorbing shtetl tales
from her grandmother, struggling against her Yiddish environment to
succeed in public school. Years later she would recall her childhood
as she read immigrant writers Mary Antin and Anzia Yezierska and
other Jewish American women authors whose dual heritage shaped
their personalities and their works. This book, Modern Jewish Women
Writers in America, would not have been possible without the“divided
selves,” the Jewish American women writers who inspired me and my
fellow contributors to do this book.
Over the last 30 years, I have been fortunate to reside in Baltimore’s
thriving Jewish community, and to teach at Towson University, which
has allowed me to balance my secular and religious worlds. With sup-
port through grants and sabbaticals, Towson University has encour-
aged my scholarship and my teaching interests in Jewish literature.
When I was planning this book, Carl Olson, a librarian at Towson’s
Albert S. Cook Library, offered to serve as an indexer. However, his
interest in the subject, talents as a copy editor, and expertise with
computers made him an invaluable consultant in preparing the manu-
script. I am indebted to him for his assistance with my book.
I am grateful to family and friends who shared in this enterprise,
offering advice, affection, and diversion, when needed. I especially
thank my husband, Don, and sons, Peter and Daniel, for their
interest, given the full lives they lead.
I would like to pay tribute to three people who died this past
year, but whose infl uence will remain with me for the rest of my life,
three individuals who embraced their Jewish heritage and also their
American identities and who contributed to both: my cousin, Esther
Mandelker, an Israeli-American, successful psychologist; Arnold
Blumberg, acclaimed Towson University professor and scholar
of European and Jewish history; and Shoshana Feldman, revered
Torah scholar and educator of Baltimoreans (including myself). All
three balanced family, professional, and community commitments
wonderfully, supporting those around them.