Title Race, rights, and recognition : Jewish American literature since 1969 / Dean J. Franco

Published Ithaca : Cornell University Press, 2012

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Description 1 online resource (xi, 239 pages) Contents Introduction : the politics and ethics of Jewish American literature and criticism -- Portnoy's complaint : it's about race, not sex (even the sex is about race) -- Re-reading Cynthia Ozick : pluralism, postmodernism, and the multicultural encounter -- The new, new pluralism : religion, community, and secularity in Allegra Goodman's Kaaterskill Falls -- Recognition and effacement in Lore Segal's Her first American -- Responsibility unveiled : Tony Kushner's Homebody/Kabul -- Globalization's complaint : Gary Shteyngart's Absurdistan and the culture of culture -- Epilogue : less Absurdistan, more Boyle Heights Summary In Race, Rights, and Recognition, Dean J. Franco explores the work of recent Jewish American writers, many of whom have taken unpopular stances on social issues, distancing themselves from the politics and public practice of multiculturalism. While these writers explore the same themes of group-based rights and recognition that preoccupy Latino, African American, and Native American writers, they are generally suspicious of group identities and are more likely to adopt postmodern distancing techniques than to presume to speak for "their people." Ranging from Philip Roth's scandalous 1969 novel Portnoy's Complaint to Gary Shteyngart's Absurdistan in 2006, the literature Franco examines in this book is at once critical of and deeply invested in the problems of race and the rise of multicultural philosophies and policies in America. Franco argues that from the formative years of multiculturalism (1965-1975), Jewish writers probed the ethics and not just the politics of civil rights and cultural recognition; this perspective arose from a stance of keen awareness of the limits and possibilities of consensus-based civil and human rights. Contemporary Jewish writers are now responding to global problems of cultural conflict and pluralism and thinking through the challenges and responsibilities of cosmopolitanism. Indeed, if the United States is now correctly-if cautiously-identifying itself as a post-ethnic nation, it may be said that Jewish writing has been well ahead of the curve in imagining what a post-ethnic future might look like and in critiquing the social conventions of race and ethnicity Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index Notes In English Subject American literature -- Jewish authors -- History and criticism Jews in literature. Jews -- United States -- Intellectual life Judaism and literature -- United States -- History -- 20th century Judaism and literature -- United States -- History -- 21st century Judaism in literature. LITERARY CRITICISM -- American -- General. American literature -- Jewish authors Jews in literature Jews -- Intellectual life Judaism and literature Judaism in literature Literatur Juden Amerikansk litteratur -- historia. Intellektuellt liv. Judendom i litteraturen. Judiska författare. United States USA Genre/Form Electronic books Criticism, interpretation, etc. History Form Electronic book ISBN 9780801464010 0801464013 080145087X 9780801450877

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