The Generations of Jewish American Fiction

This course surveys Jewish American fiction from the beginning of the twentieth century to the present, surveying the initial immigrant experience, the splendors and sorrows and assimilation, and the redefinition and self-questioning of writers from generations X and Y (Millennials). We will reconsider reputations that are well established and discuss important writers who have until recently hovered beneath the horizon of awareness. We will also focus on the deployment of form in Jewish-American fiction and the interaction of style, culture, and representation, Readings include Anzia Yezierska, The Bread-Givers; Bernard Malamud, The Assistant; Saul Bellow, Seize The Day; Philip Roth, Operation Shylock; Cynthia Ozick, Antiquities; Joshua Cohen, Moving Kings; Emily Barton, The Book of Esther; Dalia Sofer, The Septembers of Shiraz.

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