Topics in Jewish American Literature

Catalog description

An in-depth examination of important themes, writers, and/or historical developments in Jewish Literature of the United States. ENGL (J ST) 427 Topics in Jewish American Literature (3) This course will provide sustained examination of major themes, texts, and figures in the Jewish American literary tradition. The course will focus on depth rather than breadth in its analysis of the defining aspects of the literature and on what the literature reveals about Jewish American culture and identity. The United States has absorbed large numbers of Jewish immigrants from many parts of the world, holding many different ideas about Jewish practice, and affiliating themselves with many different political, social, and cultural traditions, and moreover Jews have settled and made homes in a wide variety of American communities. Close analysis of literature will therefore provide an opportunity to consider the constitution, origin, and development of Jewish America's wider cultural, political, and social contexts. Materials will consist predominantly of primary texts, including prose fiction and nonfiction, poetry, drama, and film, and the methodology will emphasize the close reading of these texts. The course complements offerings in Jewish Studies, English, and Comparative Literature. Most obviously, the course will offer students of Jewish literature, world literature, and American literature an opportunity for contextualization. It enables students in Jewish Studies to study the rich literature of American Jews, and it adds to courses covering Jewish American history, religion, and culture. The course offers students in English and Comparative Literature a valuable, sustained introduction to an important U.S. and world sub-culture and -literature.