Imagining each other : Blacks and Jews in contemporary American literature / Ethan Goffman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Goffman, Ethan, 1961-

Series:

SUNY series in modern Jewish literature and culture

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

American literature--Jewish authors--History and criticism.

American literature.

American literature--Jewish authors.

African Americans in literature.

American literature--African American authors--History and criticism.

American literature--African American authors.

Literature and society--United States--History--20th century.

Literature and society.

United States.

History.

Judaism and literature--United States--History--20th century.

Judaism and literature.

American literature--20th century--History and criticism.

African Americans--Relations with Jews.

African Americans.

Ethnic relations in literature.

Black people--Relations with Jews.

Black people.

Race relations in literature.

Black people in literature.

Jews in literature.

Physical Description:

xiii, 262 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Albany : State University of New York Press, 2000.

Summary:

Imagining Each Other explores Black-Jewish relations by examining the complex ways they have portrayed each other in recent American literature. It illuminates their dramatic alliances and conflicts and their dilemmas of identity and assimilation, and addresses the persistent questions of ethnic division and economic inequality that have so encompassed the Black-Jewish narrative in America. Focusing primarily on the 1960s and its aftermath, the book reveals how Jewish and African Americans view each other through a complex dialectic of identification and difference, channeled by ever-shifting positions within American society. Through the works of Richard Wright, Saul Bellow, Bernard Malamud, Amiri Baraka, Paule Marshall, Grace Paley, and others, Goffman unfolds a story of two peoples with powerful biblical and mythic connections that replay themselves in contemporary circumstances.

Contents:

1 Monologues and Dialogues 1

2 Black (E)Masculinity and Anti-Semitism 25

3 Jewish Assimilationism: White Lies and Black Eyes 49

4 Ambivalent Estrangements: Jewish Role Models and Black Liberalism 77

5 Burning Bridges: Black Nationalism and Anti-Semitism 91

6 Jewish Backlash: The Return of the Black Primitive 111

7 Aftermaths: Nationalism, Internationalism, and Diversity 143

8 A New Dispensation 163

9 Fragmentation and Multiculturalism 185

10 Parallels and Paralysis 207.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 241-251) and index.

ISBN:

0791446778

0791446786

OCLC:

42765189