Leonard B. Glick
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- July 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780195176742
- eISBN:
- 9780199835621
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/019517674X.003.0010
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
While some Jewish Americans have criticized ritual circumcision in magazine articles and proposed substituting a rite without genital cutting, others have defended it passionately, insisting that it ...
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While some Jewish Americans have criticized ritual circumcision in magazine articles and proposed substituting a rite without genital cutting, others have defended it passionately, insisting that it is an essential component of Jewish tradition and identity. Jewish feminists seem unable to develop a forthright critique of the obvious male-centered nature of ritual circumcision; this is even reflected in children’s books portraying circumcisions. Jewish-American fiction, by such authors as Philip Roth and Bernard Malamud, again reveals underlying perplexity with the role of circumcision in contemporary Jewish identity. Television sitcoms repeat the theme of Jewish discomfort when portraying infant circumcision, while programs dealing with adult circumcision are characterized by outright denigration of the foreskin.Less
While some Jewish Americans have criticized ritual circumcision in magazine articles and proposed substituting a rite without genital cutting, others have defended it passionately, insisting that it is an essential component of Jewish tradition and identity. Jewish feminists seem unable to develop a forthright critique of the obvious male-centered nature of ritual circumcision; this is even reflected in children’s books portraying circumcisions. Jewish-American fiction, by such authors as Philip Roth and Bernard Malamud, again reveals underlying perplexity with the role of circumcision in contemporary Jewish identity. Television sitcoms repeat the theme of Jewish discomfort when portraying infant circumcision, while programs dealing with adult circumcision are characterized by outright denigration of the foreskin.
Ezra Mendelsohn
- Published in print:
- 1997
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195112030
- eISBN:
- 9780199854608
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195112030.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, History of Religion
This chapter discusses the two Frankist novels of Isaac Bashevis Singer, which are largely unknown even to literary scholars, aiming to make some contribution to a more comprehensive study of the ...
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This chapter discusses the two Frankist novels of Isaac Bashevis Singer, which are largely unknown even to literary scholars, aiming to make some contribution to a more comprehensive study of the subject. Jewish works of fiction, in both Hebrew and Yiddish, have evinced considerable and continuous interest in the messianic hopes of the times of Shabbetai Zvi and Jacob Frank. Although the evaluation of these phenomena differ, as do the descriptions given and the literary genres used, the literary treatment of these hopes is worthy of close attention beyond the purely literary standpoint—for such works often reflect the subject's continuing relevance in relation to modern ideologies and processes of modernization within Jewish society.Less
This chapter discusses the two Frankist novels of Isaac Bashevis Singer, which are largely unknown even to literary scholars, aiming to make some contribution to a more comprehensive study of the subject. Jewish works of fiction, in both Hebrew and Yiddish, have evinced considerable and continuous interest in the messianic hopes of the times of Shabbetai Zvi and Jacob Frank. Although the evaluation of these phenomena differ, as do the descriptions given and the literary genres used, the literary treatment of these hopes is worthy of close attention beyond the purely literary standpoint—for such works often reflect the subject's continuing relevance in relation to modern ideologies and processes of modernization within Jewish society.
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780804761222
- eISBN:
- 9780804774239
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804761222.003.0006
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Jewish Studies
This chapter presents some final thoughts from the author. It briefly discusses how German Jews' often conspicuous consumption of high culture has obscured the significance of the vast body of ...
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This chapter presents some final thoughts from the author. It briefly discusses how German Jews' often conspicuous consumption of high culture has obscured the significance of the vast body of popular belles lettres that German-Jewish print media disseminated from the late 1830s on. The chapter argues that German-speaking Jews were pioneers when it came to creating a tradition of popular Jewish belles lettres invested with the task of ensuring Judaism's survival in the modern world. In this respect, much Jewish fiction today may be more the heirs of the German-Jewish experience than contemporary commentators often acknowledge.Less
This chapter presents some final thoughts from the author. It briefly discusses how German Jews' often conspicuous consumption of high culture has obscured the significance of the vast body of popular belles lettres that German-Jewish print media disseminated from the late 1830s on. The chapter argues that German-speaking Jews were pioneers when it came to creating a tradition of popular Jewish belles lettres invested with the task of ensuring Judaism's survival in the modern world. In this respect, much Jewish fiction today may be more the heirs of the German-Jewish experience than contemporary commentators often acknowledge.
Nadia Valman
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- June 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780198749394
- eISBN:
- 9780191869754
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198749394.003.0022
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century and Contemporary Literature, Prose (inc. letters, diaries)
This chapter looks at the characteristic genres in which British-Jewish writers have worked in the post-war period. Beginning with the Jewish writers of the 1950s and 1960s, the chapter considers the ...
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This chapter looks at the characteristic genres in which British-Jewish writers have worked in the post-war period. Beginning with the Jewish writers of the 1950s and 1960s, the chapter considers the ways that they use the form of the realist novel to document, mythologize, or lament social mobility. The impact of the Holocaust was increasingly part of public discourse from the 1970s. Jewish writers turned to satirical or comic fiction to confront the taboos and silences associated with this history. By the 1980s, when, for many Jews, links to Jewish history had been lost, Jewish fiction drew upon a new desire to recover the past, not in geographical but in genealogical terms.Less
This chapter looks at the characteristic genres in which British-Jewish writers have worked in the post-war period. Beginning with the Jewish writers of the 1950s and 1960s, the chapter considers the ways that they use the form of the realist novel to document, mythologize, or lament social mobility. The impact of the Holocaust was increasingly part of public discourse from the 1970s. Jewish writers turned to satirical or comic fiction to confront the taboos and silences associated with this history. By the 1980s, when, for many Jews, links to Jewish history had been lost, Jewish fiction drew upon a new desire to recover the past, not in geographical but in genealogical terms.
Maurice Samuels
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780804763844
- eISBN:
- 9780804773423
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804763844.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Jewish Studies
This book brings to light little-known works of literature produced from 1830 to 1870 by the first generation of Jews born as French citizens. These writers, it asserts, used fiction as a laboratory ...
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This book brings to light little-known works of literature produced from 1830 to 1870 by the first generation of Jews born as French citizens. These writers, it asserts, used fiction as a laboratory to experiment with new forms of Jewish identity relevant to the modern world, and, in their stories and novels, responded to the stereotypical depictions of Jews in French culture while creatively adapting the forms and genres of the French literary tradition. They also offered innovative solutions to the central dilemmas of Jewish modernity in the French context—including how to reconcile their identities as Jews with the universalizing demands of the French revolutionary tradition. While theit solutions ranged from complete assimilation to a modern brand of orthodoxy, these writers collectively illustrate the creativity of a community in the face of unprecedented upheaval.Less
This book brings to light little-known works of literature produced from 1830 to 1870 by the first generation of Jews born as French citizens. These writers, it asserts, used fiction as a laboratory to experiment with new forms of Jewish identity relevant to the modern world, and, in their stories and novels, responded to the stereotypical depictions of Jews in French culture while creatively adapting the forms and genres of the French literary tradition. They also offered innovative solutions to the central dilemmas of Jewish modernity in the French context—including how to reconcile their identities as Jews with the universalizing demands of the French revolutionary tradition. While theit solutions ranged from complete assimilation to a modern brand of orthodoxy, these writers collectively illustrate the creativity of a community in the face of unprecedented upheaval.
