In this class we explore a variety of Jewish-American literary works from the late nineteenth century to the present through writers such as Abraham Cahan, Anzia Yezierska, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Bernard Malamud, Saul Bellow, Jonathan Safran Foer, Nicole Krauss, and Cynthia Ozick, among others. We examine a number of questions raised by this literature, including what a Jewish-American writer is or is not, what role does the immigrant experience play in Jewish writing, how is assimilation represented, how does this literature change over time, and what is the significance of gender roles within it.

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