COLI 381NThe Jewish American Novel

Catalog

In 1977, critic of Jewish culture Irving Howe lamented what he feared was the end of American Jewish literature: "What," he worried, "is the likely future of American Jewish writing? Can we expect a new generation of writers to appear who will contribute to American literature a distinctive sensibility and style derived from the Jewish experience in this country?" We address that question by reading five Jewish American novels from early immigration through the golden era of Jewish American literature (1960s and 1970s) to present day.